Was Xi Behind Li Keqiang’s Death? 4 Suspicious Details

At the recent expanded meeting of the Chinese Politburo, Wang Qishan also delivered a speech. According to commentator Mu Yang, Wang Qishan declared, I have always believed that Li Keqiang did not possess the talent of a great prime minister, let alone the stature of an emperor. He had the demeanor of a scholar and refused to bow to the leadership, so it was inevitable that he would be removed from the leadership ranks. But his crime did not deserve death. Why not let him enjoy his old age in peace? His death will be recorded in history, noting that he and General Secretary Xi, one without the talent of a prime minister, the other without the grace of an emperor. Wang revealed that he had once been ordered to investigate dark documents to bring Li down but found no stain on his character. He was a very good man, honest and upright, Wang affirmed. After Li's death, Wang wrote a memorial but did not dare to keep it, only recalling one line, Keqiang is not dead. The heart of a tyrant cannot rest. The term tyrant, a despotic ruler, clearly pointed directly at Xi Jinping. Wang implied that Li Keqiang had to be eliminated to ensure the comfort of the top leader, as Li was not just an individual but a symbol of reformist forces in the Communist Youth League, groups Xi could not tolerate. Li Keqiang's death on October 26, 2023 in Shanghai, reported as a sudden death from a heart condition, has become a major crack in the wall of power within the Chinese government. Wang Qishan's words, along with the unusual circumstances, have not only raised suspicions but also sparked profound mourning among the people. From Hefei to Zhengzhou, citizens laid flowers in memorial despite bans, as if to say they had lost not just a premier but a soul brave enough to speak the truth. To understand this story, we need to look back in time and explore Li Keqiang's life journey, ideals, and legacy. We invite you to follow along. From Andui to the Premiership, the Journey of Li Keqiang Li Keqiang was born in 1955 in Dingyuan County, Andui Province, a poor rural area. Unlike many other leaders who came from the so-called princeling families, he was the embodiment of someone who rose through hard work and talent. From a young age, Li stood out for his sharp intellect. When he was elected as the party branch secretary of a production team, the lowest-ranking official in China's government, his first words to the young intellectuals and villagers were, What can I do to make sure everyone has enough to eat? This simple statement became the foundation of his lifelong political ideal. In 1977, when universities reopened after the Cultural Revolution, Li was admitted to the law department at Peking University, China's most prestigious institution, but also a bastion of the country's rigid institutional system. There, he challenged the conservative environment by reading Montesquieu, studying the Constitution, and writing enthusiastically in his notebook, If the law cannot protect the dignity of the weak, it is nothing more than the hammer of power. This mindset defined him, a man who believed that the law must protect human dignity and choice, not serve as a tool of bondage. His career began with modest positions in Anhui, then progressed through leadership roles in Henan and Liaoning, before he became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee in 2007, and ultimately China's premier in 2013. As premier of the State Council, he held the highest administrative position in China, responsible for all domestic and foreign affairs. Chinese premiers have displayed different leadership styles across generations, from Zhu Rongji to Wen Jiabao to Li Keqiang. Zhu Rongji laid the groundwork and basic concepts for China's economic development, which Wen Jiabao then leveraged to maintain high growth for a decade. However, Li Keqiang was widely seen as the weakest of them all. The British news magazine The Economist once pointed out in an article titled, A Very Chinese Coup, that Li's problem was not incompetence, but powerlessness. The shadow of President Xi Jinping loomed large over Li's career. Under Xi's increasingly centralized rule, the role of premier was diminished, and Li was often regarded as a solitary figure within the Politburo Standing Committee. He was not part of Xi's faction, and the rivalry between them, dating back to when both were candidates to succeed Hu Jintao, created a complex and tense relationship. Reform ideals and the dream of the Yellow River never flows backward. After Xi Jinping came to power, the outside world realized that he and Li Keqiang were not on the same path. They came from different backgrounds, held very different ideas, and their trajectories often opposed each other, especially after Xi gained full backing from his confidant Wang Huning at the 19th Party Congress. Li Keqiang inherited Deng Xiaoping's spirit of reform and opening up, strengthened during Hu Jintao's leadership, whom he regarded as a spiritual brother. Li believed in pragmatic economic development, free from rigid ideology. He created the Liconomics, measuring economic growth by railway freight, electricity consumption, and loan disbursements, an emblem of his practical mindset. He even candidly told a U.S. ambassador that China's official GDP figures were unreliable. Li quietly opposed Xi's harsh zero-COVID policy, which severely damaged the economy. During lockdowns, he persistently promoted the sidewalk economy to create jobs, only to be blocked by the highest authorities. The clash between people's livelihoods and the Party's image intensified. Li's State Council powers were quickly curtailed. In 2020, at the National People's Congress press conference, he shocked the nation by stating plainly, China has 600 million people earning less than 1,000 yuan a month. The room fell silent for three seconds. Who else dared speak so frankly under Xi's rule? Li exposed a harsh truth, contradicting Xi's slogans of common prosperity. The consequence was retaliation and political sidelining. His wife Cheng Hom said, Keqiang always remembered that behind the numbers are people. This made him one of the few brave enough to speak truth within Zhongnanhai. But it also made him an enemy of the Party leadership and ultimately the entire system. By summer 2022, nearing the end of his term, Li was almost completely sidelined. Xi monopolized Party power, presiding over all major meetings. The State Council's role became largely theoretical, with financial, personnel, economic, and social issues handled by small Party groups. Li became the quietest premier in Zhongnanhai history. Before stepping down, Li declared, China's openness will not change. The rivers Yangtze and Yellow will never flow backward. I make it clear to everyone, no matter how the international situation changes, China will remain committed to opening up. Frustrated, he cried out to the system and its many parts. The people who work? Heaven watches. Heaven has eyes. On October 26, 2023, just seven months after leaving office, Li Keqiang, former premier of China's State Council, was suddenly silenced. Reports said he died of a heart attack while swimming at the Dongzhou Guest House in Shanghai, passing away despite emergency efforts. The mysterious death and unanswered questions. Li Keqiang's death has raised many questions, not just because of its sudden timing, but also due to conflicting details surrounding the event. First, senior CCP leaders, especially former Politburo Standing Committee members, received top-tier medical care through the Leader Health Project 981, with doctors, nurses, and bodyguards on duty 24-7. Their health is often checked multiple times a day. Statistically, CCP leaders live an average of 88 years, and it's rare for them to die in their 60s or 70s. So why did Li, who appeared healthy when visiting the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Dunhuang, northwest China, in late August 2023, die suddenly without being taken to Shanghai's leading hospital, which has the most advanced technology and top cardiologists? This question is even more troubling because there is no evidence he was rushed to a hospital in time. Second, Xinhua News Agency reported Li's death at 12.10am on October 27, but the official announcement came eight hours later. On the day he died, his body was quietly flown from Shanghai to Beijing on a special flight with no media coverage. It wasn't until the morning of Tuesday, October 31, that state media briefly announced his cremation would take place on Thursday, with funeral and memorial details still unclear. This silent period fueled speculation about what really happened behind the scenes. Was information concealed or orchestrated before the news was released? Third, Li's death occurred amid turmoil within the Chinese government. Just months earlier, Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Defense Minister Li Shangfu were dismissed without clear explanation. In 2022, the shocking image of former President Hu Jintao being forced to leave the Party Congress closing ceremony was widely seen as a staged political drama. These events created a sense of instability in Zhongnanhai, and Li's death deepened suspicions of internal power struggles. According to Nikkei Asia, a longtime China political observer, when Chinese history undergoes turmoil, what matters is not that truths remain hidden, but what ordinary people believe to be true. Today in China, the unusual has become normal, and Li's death is just one such normal abnormality. Fourth, according to sources inside Zhongnanhai, Li Keqiang was reportedly indirectly involved in the summer 2023 Beidaihe meeting, where veteran Party members like Zheng Qinghong and Ji Haipeng gave harsh advice to Xi Jinping about chaos within the Party. Li's reformist views, though not directly present, may have been reflected through the Beidaihe trio. Another reliable political source revealed that within China's political structure, Li was seen as Xi's lifelong rival. Their competition dates back to before the 2007 Party Congress, when both were candidates to succeed Hu Jintao. Li was initially the favored candidate, a close aide to Hu and a rising star of the Communist Youth League. Meanwhile, Xi was the second choice, representing the princeling faction and the second red generation. But at the Congress, Xi surpassed Li, securing a higher Politburo Standing Committee rank and paving his way to succeed Hu. This reversal made Xi wary of Li. Nikkei Asia noted that if Xi were forced to retire early for any reason, the much younger Li would be a potential successor. This fuels speculation that Li's death was not just a health accident, but might be linked to Xi's fear of losing power. Chinese tycoon Desmond Shum, author of Red Roulette, posted on X that the operation to save his life could only happen after approval from Politburo was given. Apparently, this is an adopted protocol. Zhou Enlai could not receive operation on his bladder cancer because Mao didn't approve it. In today's China, a medical operation on Li probably needs Xi's personal approval. So one can reasonably assume Li is unwittingly killed by CCP protocol. Veteran Hong Kong media figure Cheung Cheang also told Vision Times in 2023 that retired leaders are placed under house arrest to prevent them from influencing politics. For political reasons, Li Keqiang had to be in Shanghai and couldn't stay in Beijing. In fact, he was under house arrest. Wherever he went, he needed Xi Jinping's approval. Li Keqiang's death recalls the mysterious death of former Minister of Public Security Li Jiancheng in 1973. But what sets him apart is the spontaneous mourning from the people. In Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, where Li spent his childhood, thousands gathered to lay flowers outside his old home just one day after his passing. The crowd grew so large that authorities had to deploy a heavy security presence to manage it. Among the flowers, a brand new belt was placed, reminding people of Li wearing an old belt while inspecting Hainan. This small personal detail touched hearts more deeply than even Xi Jinping's four volumes of thought. Similarly, in Zhengzhou, Hainan province, where Li once served as party secretary, people left messages like, Heaven sees all earthly affairs. Heaven has eyes, expressing both respect and dissatisfaction with the government. Hefei holds special historical significance as the site of the 1986 pro-democracy protests at the University of Science and Technology of China, a movement that later spread and culminated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square events. In this context, Li's death is more than a personal loss. It revives memories of suppressed ideals of freedom and reform. Aware of the sensitivity, Xi Jinping's government began removing flowers and memorial items nationwide on October 30th, banning officials from participating in tributes. Yet this could not stop thousands across the country from expressing their grief. Li Keqiang, Xi Jinping's lifelong rival, represented a different path China might have taken. Had he been chosen as general secretary in 2012 instead of Xi, China might have had a leader who prioritized economic reform, reduced state control, and opened more to the world. But history chose Xi, and Li lived under his shadow throughout his decade as premier. After his passing, millions of comments flooded the social media platform Weibo, calling him the premier for the people, a man too tired but determined to serve the people. Though Li faced criticism, often about perceived weakness or a cautious political style, no one accused him of greed or corruption. In the CCP system, good men cannot survive without forming factions or becoming aggressive. Otherwise, they are removed and stripped of real power. The cases of Wen Jiabao and Li Keqiang illustrate this well. A man who stays pure can accomplish little in a vat of dye. In such an environment, maintaining integrity without being involved in massive controversial projects or building personal financial empires is itself a mark of a gentleman. The chrysanthemums covering a corner of Hefei's streets and the notes saying, he spoke the truth, we remember, still resonate. Li's legacy lies not only in the economic policies he championed, but also in how the people remember him. A close, dedicated leader, unafraid to speak the truth. What do you think of Li Keqiang? Feel free to leave your comments below. Thank you, and see you next time.