China's ex-premier Li Keqiang dies of heart attack at age 68

Reformist was once viewed as top contender for party leadership

China’s former premier Li Keqiang died of a heart attack on Friday, less than a year after retiring from a decade in office, during which his reformist star had dimmed. He was 68.

Once viewed as a top Communist Party leadership contender, Mr Li was sidelined in recent years by President Xi Jinping, who tightened his grip on power and steered the world’s second-largest economy in a more statist direction.

The elite economist supported a more open market economy, advocating supply-side reforms in an approach dubbed “Likonomics”, which was never fully implemented. Ultimately, he had to bend to Mr Xi’s preference for more state control and his former power base waned in influence as Mr Xi installed his own acolytes in powerful positions.

“Comrade Li Keqiang, while resting in Shanghai in recent days, experienced a sudden heart attack on Oct 26 and after all-out efforts to revive him failed, died in Shanghai at 10 minutes past midnight on Oct 27,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.

An official obituary published by state media Xinhua on Friday called his death a “huge loss to the party and nation”, describing him as an “outstanding leader”.

“We must turn our grief into strength, learn from his revolutionary spirit, noble character and fine style,” Xinhua said.

The obituary listed his policy achievements and said four times that Mr Li carried out his work under Mr Xi’s “strong leadership”.

The South Korean government said in a statement that it “highly values the contribution former premier Li Keqiang has made on developing South Korea-China relations as a close friend of South Korea”.