Analyst describes China's Li as 'down to earth premier' with 'eyes for little guys'

Record ID: 1957271

  • Title: Analyst describes China's Li as 'down to earth premier' with 'eyes for little guys'
  • Date: 27th October 2023
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (OCTOBER 27, 2023) (CCTV - No use China) CCTV NEWS BULLETIN STING (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CCTV NEWS ANCHOR, WANG YAN, SAYING: "Comrade Li Keqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and former Premier of the State Council, recently took a rest in Shangh
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: China Li Li Keqiang Xi Jinping analyst death economic policy legacy pass passing
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA008346227102023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Chinese former Premier Li Keqiang died of a heart attack on Friday (October 27), barely seven months 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, 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" that was never fully implemented.
    Ultimately, he had to bend to Xi's preference for more state control, and his former power base waned in influence as Xi installed his own acolytes to powerful positions.
    Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University, and Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, discussed Li's legacy and the state of China's political landscape following his passing.
    HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE LI KEQIANG’S ROLE AND INFLUENCE IN CHINESE POLITICS DURING HIS TENURE AS PREMIER?
    “I think during Li Keqiang’s time as premier, he primarily came across as the economic moderate who after having served in some of the more economically middling or challenge provinces, people like Liaoning and Henan, for example. He has this concern for the average man, if you will, or that he's always seemed to be having concern for the economic blue-collar in mind as he goes about economic policymaking and that is why also I think in terms of policy making, he tend to be, generally speaking, more of an advocate for downward redistribution policy. He also tend to be interested in creating more space for the grassroots to pursue economic opportunities.
    "So I think for many in China, they will remember Li Keqiang as that down to earth premier who's always having eye for the little guys and the the average common man on the street.”
    WITH LI KEQIANG'S PASSING, HOW MIGHT THIS EVENT IMPACT THE BALANCE OF POWER WITHIN THE COMMUNIST PARTY LEADERSHIP AND CHINA'S DOMESTIC POLITICS?
    “If you go back ten years ago when Premier Li Keqiang first came to power, we were talking about this notion of Xi-Li era when the General Secretary and the premier both wield significant power. However, in the last few years, increasingly we're only talking about Xi Jinping and certainly we see that reflected in media discourse as well when they talk about the Xi Jinping new era.”
    “If there's one thing that's potentially changed is that Li Keqiang used to be able to play a relatively moderating influence in terms of policy making, given his stature and his background as a scholar of economics and without him around, I've presumably his prodigies, his former sub owner will also be in a weaker position in terms of playing that modernity voice and kind of balancing role as well, and that may mean a more, one could argue consolidated or a more directional way to approach economic policy.”
    HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE LI KEQIANG’S ROLE AND INFLUENCE IN CHINESE POLITICS DURING HIS TENURE AS PREMIER?
    “So, after the reform and opening-up in 1978, he should be considered one of the weakest premiers. In a strict sense, if we look at the structure, he is no longer the second-in-command; he's just working under the number one, handling specific tasks, and playing a somewhat subordinate role.”
    CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIENCED AN OUTPOURING OF GRIEF AND SHOCK, WHY DID LI’S PASSING GENERATE SUCH A SIGNIFICANT RESPONSE?
    “Back when he first became premier in 2013, there was a hope for balance, a balance between the General Secretary and the Premier. So, in general, there were frictions between them, and Li Keqiang said some things that were a bit different from what the general secretary (Xi Jinping) said. For most people, they hoped for a different voice because, after China's reform and opening-up, it had become a sort of tradition, as in the era of Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji, where their viewpoints also differed. But having different viewpoints doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing because it leads to more discussions and greater transparency.”
    “What most people felt or reflected upon was that the current system was becoming more like Mao Zedong's system: party-led, with less room for discussion, and very strict control over public opinion. This reaction was a response to dissatisfaction with the current situation.”
    (Production: Joyce Zhou)
  • Copyright Holder: CCTV (China)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register