Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang passed away on October 27 in Shanghai. He was 68. Li died of a sudden heart attack. Born in July 1955, Li was from Dingyuan, Anhui province. He studied at the Department of Law of Peking University between March 1978 and February 1982 and also held a PhD in Economics. He once served as the head of the Students’ Union of the university. In March 1993 he became First Secretary of the Communist Youth League and subsequently served as Party Secretary and Governor of Henan, and Party Secretary of Liaoning province. In October 2007, Li was elected a Member of the Chinese Communist Party's Political Bureau and in March 2008 was appointed Vice Premier of the State Council. He was China's Premier from March 2013 till March 2023, when he retired and was succeeded by current Premier Li Qiang. The official obituary mentioned that he “advanced reforms in key fields such as fiscal and tax systems, financial sectors and investment, as well as science and technology, while pursuing a broader agenda of opening up across more areas and in greater depth”, the China Daily reports.
Li Keqiang's economic policies were known abroad a “Likonomics”, featuring efforts on deleveraging, structural reform, restrained stimulus, and developing the private economy and foreign investment. Li faced challenges including a hostile external environment, resistance from interest groups and complex social-political conditions. Approachable and pragmatic, Li steered the world’s second-largest economy through a difficult period during his decade as Premier, pushing for market-oriented reforms, simplified government procedures and a better business environment for private and foreign companies, the South China Morning Post reports.
“Li has been committed to market-oriented reforms,” said Zhu Tian, Professor of Economics at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). “He was a charismatic truth-teller, and a popular Premier in China.” Li was also devoted to delegating more power from Beijing, reducing government approvals and also bolstering the business environment. Former American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai President Ker Gibbs called Li “a pragmatist, and highly competent”. “He had no axe to grind in dealing with the West. There was a group of leaders who foreign businesspeople were disappointed to see were left with no formal role in the new government. Li would have been high on that list,” Gibbs added.
Speaking at the National People’s Congress (NPC) in March 2022, Li vowed that “China’s opening-up policy would not change, just as the course of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers will not be reversed”. Tao Jingzhou, a lawyer and university classmate, said that Li’s support for economic reforms and opening-up came from the bottom of his heart. “Events derailed some of Li’s agenda in the past 10 years, but his thinking is still very much relevant today,” said Bert Hofman, Director of East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. “Li always struck me as very committed to China’s development, intellectually curious, with a highly sophisticated understanding of the Chinese economy and how China could learn from international good practice in economic management,” he added.
