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Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang died early Friday morning, according to Chinese state media. The 68-year-old had been on holiday in Shanghai when he suffered a heart attack on Thursday, succumbing at 12:10 a.m. despite "all-out efforts to rescue him," officials said. Li served as China's seventh premier from 2013 to March 2023. He was widely viewed as an unassuming, reformist-minded technocrat who oversaw the country's vast bureaucracy during the later stages of China's economic boom and into the COVID pandemic. Li was the premier of the People’s Republic of China from 2013 to March 2023. Regarded as a reformist...

CCTV reports he suffered a heart attack just months after retirement HONG KONG/SHANGHAI -- China's former Premier Li Keqiang died of a heart attack in the early hours of Friday, according to state media. He was 68. Li suffered heart failure on Thursday evening while vacationing in Shanghai and passed away just after midnight, CCTV reported. He had served as premier for a decade, from 2013 until his retirement this year. — A year ago, in October 2022, he stepped down from the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee. He took his final bow as premier in March, when his parting comments...

As the global economic intelligentsia debates how to “decouple” or “de-risk” from China, Elon Musk clearly didn’t get the memo. The Tesla founder was feted like a returning king in Beijing this week. From the moment his private jet arrived on Tuesday, Musk is reportedly being called “Brother Ma,” putting him in rarified league with Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma. There are many takeaways from Musk’s first China visit in three years. One is that not everyone is decoupling from China, least of all the globe’s most influential electric-vehicle (EV) evangelist and owner of Twitter. Another: the future of EV production...

During a recent inspection tour of villages in the region of Ningxia, Chinese leader Xi Jinping emphasized his goal for China to become “a moderately prosperous society.” This catchphrase was coined soon after he took power in 2012, and is his flagship economic policy.Xi also penned a May 31 article in Qiushi, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s official magazine, that China is advancing toward achieving that goal, with “400 million people in the middle class.”His standard for middle class was: an annual household income of 100,000 to 500,000 yuan ($14,160-$70,810). But in China, multi-generational households living under one roof are...

An extraordinary thing happened in China at the final meeting of the party congress over the weekend. Hu Jintao, the previous president of China, was sitting next to President Xi Jinping when two men approached from the rear. Hu rose and appeared increasingly surprised and then alarmed. A few others sitting at the lead table also appeared openly surprised, while most seemed unconcerned or were blank-faced out of discipline. Hu was escorted behind Xi, who appeared as if nothing significant was happening. It seemed to me that Xi did finally glance at him, I think with a look of contempt,...

VIDEODuring the Chinese Communist Party's 20th Party Congress, former President Hu Jin Tao was publicly purged and forcibly removed in front of all of the Robotic Commies who had just given Xi Jinping an unprecedented third term as president without a single dissenting vote. For the first time the dialogue during this humiliating unpersoning is revealed.

China’s former top leader, Hu Jintao, was unexpectedly led out of Saturday’s closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress, in a moment of drama during what is typically a highly choreographed event. Hu, 79, was seated in a prominent position at the front table in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, directly next to his successor, current leader Xi Jinping, when he was approached by a staff member, video of the meeting shows. While seated, Hu appeared to talk briefly with the male staff member, while China’s third most senior leader, Li Zhanshu, who was seated to his...

Former Chinese president Hu Jintao was unexpectedly led out of Saturday’s closing ceremony of the Communist party congress, AFP journalists on the scene witnessed. The frail-looking Hu, 79, initially seemed reluctant to leave the front row of politburo standing committee members in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, where he was sitting next to President Xi Jinping. He had brief exchanges with Xi and the premier, Li Keqiang, after stewards spoke with him. A steward, holding Hu’s arm, led the former president out.

Video shows moment when former Chinese president Hu Jintao unexpectedly leaves Saturday's closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress. A staff member supports Hu by the arm as he stands up. He also speaks to President Xi Jinping for a moment and pats Premier Li Keqiang on the shoulder before being led out.

Former Chinese President Hu Jintao was physically removed from the Community Party Congress Saturday and his name was scrubbed from the country’s Internet as his successor tightened his ironclad hold on power. The frail Hu, 79, appeared to look confused as he was hauled from his seat by a steward who repeatedly tried to lift the older man from his seat, drawing concerned looks from officials seated nearby. Hu, who was seated next to Chinese president Xi Jingping, then put his hand on a sheet of paper placed on a folder in front of the leader. Xi quickly put his...

On July 1, Xi Jinping, head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), declared that China had achieved a moderately prosperous society. At the same time, the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission also stated that China’s per capita GDP had exceeded $10,000 in 2019. However, these statements were very different from those of the CCP Premier Li Keqiang last year.On July 1, Xi declared that China had achieved a “moderately prosperous society.” What is a “moderately prosperous society?” A moderately prosperous society is the “ideal state of societal living conditions,” according to China’s Baidu Encyclopedia. “It is not only about...

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Chongqing city, which experienced severe flooding following heavy rains, from Aug. 20 to Aug. 21, but state-run media didn’t report on his trip until Aug. 23—an unusual delay for media outlets that typically provide constant coverage of top officials’ public activities.The media reports also focused on economic development—a departure from the information about Li’s trip that was posted on the Chinese central government’s official website from Aug. 20 to Aug. 25. The website emphasized that Li had observed the effects of the flooding and encouraged locals to unite amid the catastrophe.China analysts say this...

Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday that China doesn’t want to see a “trade war” with the United States and hopes to reach a negotiated settlement of disputes. Speaking at a nationally televised news conference, Li said rash action would hurt all sides. He made no mention of a possible Chinese response to any increase in U.S. import controls. Beijing faces mounting pressure from the government of U.S. President Donald Trump over complaints it hampers access to its markets, pressures foreign companies to hand over technology and is flooding foreign markets with unfairly low-priced steel and other goods. That has prompted...

Chinese leaders meeting at an annual summit of Asian leaders in Brunei are voicing fresh concerns over a possible default by the United States on its debt. The official Xinhua news agency said Premier Li Keqiang told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday that Beijing is "highly concerned" about Washington's debt ceiling problem. A U.S. State Department official confirmed the conversation, noting that Li "briefly referenced" the issue. The official said Kerry insisted the fiscal impasse "is a moment in Washington politics" and expressed the White House's commitment to resolving the issue. China is the largest foreign holder...