Li Keqiang: in China and overseas, tributes flow for warm, capable former premier
- Foreign diplomats, business leaders and China watchers around the world joined the Chinese public in remembering Li who died on Friday
- Many who had first-hand experience of the former premier shared photos of him on Weibo, including his visits to disaster sites
The Chinese public reacted with shock and grief at the sudden death of former premier Li Keqiang, while foreign diplomats, business leaders and China watchers around the world offered their condolences.
The former premier, who was born in Anhui province, was visiting Shanghai. At 68, Li was healthy and energetic, and there had been no reports of him suffering any chronic illness.
03:31
‘People’s Premier’: former Chinese premier Li Keqiang dies of a heart attack at age 68
The news took China and the world by surprise. By 7pm on Friday, there were 10.67 million posts on Weibo about Li’s death, making it the top trending topic on the popular Chinese social media platform.
Tao Jingzhou, an international arbitrator and a classmate of Li’s at Peking University, said he was astonished to hear of his sudden death.
“Keqiang has left us forever,” Tao wrote on X, the microblogging platform previously known as Twitter.
“He was a man who couldn’t be left idle in his life, who bowed down and showed restraint for the sake of his country, and it was too sudden for him to leave us.”
In a message to the South China Morning Post, Tao said Li would be remembered for his role as the first premier in China’s history with a bachelor’s degree in law and the first with a doctorate in economics.
