Ex-Premier Li Keqiang died of a heart attack at 68

Editor-in-Chief

• The newly retired official was in Shanghai when he experienced a sudden heart attack on Thursday. Despite “all-out rescue efforts,” Li passed away in the early hours of Friday, the official Xinhua News Agency said, without providing further details.

Li was a reform-oriented economist who was once a contender to the country’s top leadership role.

• He served as premier — who typically heads the day-to-day government operations and runs the world’s second-largest economy — from 2012 to 2022 under Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Xí Jìnpíng 习近平.
• Li stepped down from the premier role in March after completing the maximum two terms in office, whereas Xi broke the tradition and secured his third term as the party’s General Secretary.
• Li was replaced by Lǐ Qiáng 李强, one of Xi’s closest allies from his days in provincial government.

During the previous administration from 2003 to 2013, President and General Secretary Hú Jǐntāo 胡锦涛 and Premier Wēn Jiābǎo 温家宝 were seen as roughly equal in power, and state media devoted similar amounts of broadcast time and word count to covering both of them. But under Xi, Li Keqiang was always very much the second fiddle.

There has been widespread expression of mourning and affection for Li on Chinese social media today, and also speculation that Li’s death was not really caused by a heart attack, and that his death might provoke protests.

Click through for a brief obituary and more on official and social media reactions to Li’s death.

Zhao Yuanyuan

Wú Zūnyǒu 吴尊友, the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who played a crucial role in the country’s COVID-zero pandemic policy, passed away today at the age of 60 after a yearslong battle with pancreatic cancer.

China proposed a dozen new clauses to its state secrets law in its first revision in over a decade, in an effort to expand and deepen the law’s reach to sectors such as education, technology, and military facilities.

The revision to the Law on Guarding State Secrets, which was made public on October 25, was reviewed by lawmakers at a meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee earlier this week. It will ban all state employees with access to classified information from traveling overseas without prior approval, and also places more scrutiny on all information and devices handled by government personnel, including regular checks of all tech products used to protect state secrets, among its stipulations.

China and ASEAN agreed to review the code of conduct for the South China Sea following an “in-depth exchange of views,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Máo Níng 毛宁 said during a press briefing yesterday.

China and members of the regional bloc agreed to start the long-delayed third reading and to “accelerate negotiations…[for] an effective and substantive” code of conduct at an early date, she said.

The news comes after U.S. President Joe Biden assured the Philippines of an “ironclad” defense commitment earlier this week after maneuvers by China Coast Guard ships led to collisions with Philippine vessels in a disputed area of the South China Sea.

The Philippines dropped offers of Chinese loans to fund three railway projects worth more than $5 billion, and is seeking out funding options from other Asian countries. “We saw that China appeared to be no longer interested, so we’ll look for other partners,” Philippine transportation secretary Jaime Bautista said today per Bloomberg.

China and Pakistan will hold their third joint naval exercises in November in the north of the Arabian Sea, China’s defense ministry announced yesterday. It’s the latest effort to strengthen ties between the two nations, after Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 and Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar pledged to “promote regional unity and cooperation and safeguard the legitimate interests of developing countries” at the third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing last week.

China will boost its cooperation with Mongolia under a Eurasian security bloc, said Chinese Premier Lǐ Qiáng 李强 during a meeting with Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene on the sidelines of the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States.

Mongolia has refrained from joining the SCO for almost two decades, choosing to be an observer state since 2004 even as other nations such as India, Pakistan, and Iran became full-fledged members.

Chinese state media: The death of former Premier Lǐ Kèqiáng 李克强 is not the top story on Xinhua News Agency’s website today; instead it is about a Communist Party Politburo meeting chaired by Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 on measures “to revitalize Northeast China in the New Era” of Xi.

The People’s Daily print edition’s top stories are Wuhan accelerates the construction of a scientific and technological innovation center with national influence, and In-depth Study of Xi Jinping’s Important Expositions on Civil Affairs Work published and distributed.

• The clips, which started popping up last week on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and Douyin, featured an artificial intelligence-generated doppelganger.
• “This is really impressive,” a Weibo user commented on a video where the fake Swift talks about her recent travels in Chinese, which has been viewed more than 6 million times since it was shared on October 21.
• Some expressed dismay at the potential of such realistic AI manipulation, with one writing, “This is actually scary.”

The tool behind these insanely realistic clips is a product developed by HeyGen, a Chinese startup previously known as Surreal and Movio before rebranding earlier this year.

• Its “Video Translate” tool, which created the Swift deepfakes and was launched earlier this month, is capable of translating footage into 14 different languages — including Mandarin, Hindi, and Arabic — and can clone the speaker’s voice and sync the person’s lips in an “authentic speaking style,” according to the company’s website.
• With its move to the U.S. last October, HeyGen is no longer subject to China’s deepfake rules, which went into effect in January.

Click here for more details.

Zhao Yuanyuan

• The use of Uyghur forced labor in China’s so-called “re-education camps” has been documented by journalists, scholars, and non-profit organizations, based on eye witness accounts, leaked official documents, and on-the ground reporting. 

  There is some evidence to suggest that China is phasing out internment camps for Turkic, mainly Muslim minorities in the far western region of Xinjiang. But according to a new report, a more insidious type of repression is taking place: the use of a program called Poverty Alleviation through Labor Transfer, which is normalizing forced labor for targeted groups, writes Ruth Ingram.

Ruth Ingram

• Review: Only the River Flows: A stylish detective story set in 1990s China, Only the River Flows is the third full-length feature by 32-year-old director Wèi Shūjūn 魏书钧, one of the brightest young filmmakers in China, writes Maja Korbecka.

Below are links from our NewsBase to other noteworthy reports published in the last 24 hours from and about China.

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

U.S.-China tech war
U.S. eyes 5-year timeline for China chip decoupling / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“The U.S. is indefinitely extending export waivers allowing South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers to supply Chinese facilities with American technology as it takes a longer-term view on decoupling supply chains from China.”

Graphite curbs and electric vehicles
Global EV battery supply chain puzzles over China graphite curbs / Reuters
“Beijing’s move to restrict graphite exports will have a disproportionate impact on foreign makers of electric vehicle battery components who have not yet shifted to using as much synthetic material as Chinese counterparts, industry insiders and experts said.”

• Previously on The China Project: China curbs graphite exports on national security grounds

EU electric vehicle probe
Three Chinese EV giants revealed as subjects of EU subsidy probe / Caixin (paywall)
“Three of China’s biggest automakers have been picked as the sampled companies subject to an anti-subsidy probe the European Union is launching into new electric cars imported from China, according to a European Commission document seen by Caixin.”

Bears in the stock markets
China selloff threatens $27 billion of ‘snowball’ derivatives / Caixin (paywall)
“Another 10% decline in a major Chinese equity gauge may trigger a wave of selling in index futures tied to structured products, adding fresh risks to the slumping stock market.”

Airline industry
China’s top airlines report quarterly profit after years of losses / Reuters
“China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines each reported first quarterly profits in more than three years on Friday, as a pickup in international flights complemented a recovery in the domestic market.”

Oil
China imposes growth limits on vast oil refining industry / Reuters
“China has set a minimum size for new oil refineries and will ban small crude processors that claim to be chemicals or bitumen producers under a plan to limit total capacity at 1 billion metric tons, or 20 million barrels per day, by 2025.”

Real estate and property development
Opinion: China needs a market support fund — to rescue property developers / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
Donald Low writes: “Beijing is now reportedly considering establishing a stock market stabilization fund that would invest hundreds of billions of yuan into domestic equities. If such a fund is created, it would signal that Beijing is finally taking concrete steps to end the current economic malaise.”

Live streaming ecommerce
China’s TikTok bans rapid livestream selling / Sixth Tone
“In stark contrast to the typically long-winded product explanations on China’s ecommerce livestreams, the ‘rapid introductions’ of products with little explanation has been a surprise hit among consumers.”

Huawei
China’s Huawei reports modest revenue growth for first three quarters / Reuters
“China’s Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) saw a slight uptick in revenue in the first three quarters of 2023, with the company citing growth in its digital power and cloud businesses as well as the growing competitiveness of its vehicle components unit.”
Huawei, SMIC chip advances cannot be stopped by ‘futile’ US sanctions, says TSMC and semiconductor veteran / SCMP (paywall)
“The US won’t be able to stop Chinese firms from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) to Huawei Technologies from making progress in chip technology, according to one of the semiconductor industry’s leading figures.”

Foxconn
‘Like it was with Jack Ma’: China puts world’s biggest Apple supplier in its crosshairs / FT (paywall)
“Two months ago, Terry Gou was talking big. Announcing his intention to run for president in his native Taiwan, Foxconn’s billionaire founder argued that China — home to most of the factories where the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer churns out Apple’s iPhones — could not touch him or his company.”

Hong Kong economic stimulus
Hong Kong leader unveils comprehensive strategy to rescue city’s sluggish economy with easing of some property taxes among measures / SCMP (paywall)
“Hong Kong’s leader has announced a comprehensive strategy to rescue the city’s sluggish economy through a slew of measures such as easing property taxes for the first time in over a decade and attracting talent with visa and home-buying incentives while also promising family-friendly initiatives to reverse the falling birth rate.”

Shanghai’s new data park
Shanghai opens data economy industrial park in pilot free-trade zone Lingang amid China’s AI push / SCMP (paywall)
“Shanghai has opened an expansive industrial park focusing on the data industry, as the city pushes forward its ambitious three-year digital economy blueprint as part of China’s efforts to boost digital trade.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT:

Death of epidemiology expert who helped fight COVID
China’s Wu Zunyou, epidemiology expert, has died / Reuters
“Chinese epidemiologist Wú Zūnyǒu 吳尊友, a well-known expert in his field, died on Friday of pancreatic cancer, the government-backed National Business Daily reported, citing sources from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
China’s chief epidemiologist who helped drive the anti-COVID fight dies at age 60 / AP
China’s chief epidemiologist dies at age 60 / Nikkei Asia (paywall)

Traditional medicine and cardiac disease
Could traditional Chinese medicine hold a key to treating life-threatening cardiac disease? / SCMP (paywall)
“In a clinical trial, patients with acute STEMI who took TCM compound Tongxinluo showed a lower risk of another heart attack.”

POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

Li Keqiang dies at 68
China’s ex-premier Li Keqiang, sidelined by Xi Jinping, dies at 68 / Reuters
“Chinese former Premier Lǐ Kèqiáng 李克强 died of a heart attack on Friday, barely seven months after retiring from a decade in office during which his reformist star had dimmed. He was 68.”
China’s ex-premier leaves an unfinished reform legacy / Reuters
Reactions to death of Chinese ex-Premier Li Keqiang / Reuters
The sudden death of China’s former No. 2 leader Li Keqiang has shocked many / AP
Li Keqiang: in China and overseas, tributes flow for warm, capable former premier / SCMP (paywall)
Chinese citizens mourn Li Keqiang’s sudden death / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
Li Keqiang, China’s former premier, dies suddenly at 68 / FT (paywall)
Li Keqiang, Chinese premier, 1955-2023 / FT (paywall)
Li Keqiang’s legacy / Caixin (paywall)
Chinese mourn the death of a premier, and the loss of economic hope / NYT (paywall)

U.S.-China thaw
U.S., China need ‘comprehensive’ dialogue to stabilize ties, China’s Wang says / Reuters
“The United States and China have disagreements but they also share common interests, and the two countries need ‘in-depth’ and ‘comprehensive’ dialogue to reduce misunderstandings and stabilize bilateral relations, China’s top diplomat Wáng Yì 王毅 said on Thursday as he began his visit to Washington.”
China’s top diplomat visits Washington to help stabilize ties and perhaps set up a Biden-Xi summit / AP
“China’s top diplomat is meeting high-level U.S. officials, possibly including President Joe Biden, on a highly watched visit to Washington that could help stabilize U.S.-China ties by facilitating a summit between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.”
China’s top diplomat raises hopes for improving US ties as he starts three-day visit to Washington / AP
China and U.S. need in-depth dialogue, Wang Yi tells Blinken / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
China says it wants to bolster climate cooperation with US as California Gov. Newsom visits Beijing / AP
China and the US appear to restart military talks despite disputes over Taiwan and South China Sea / AP
“China and the United States appear to be restarting dialogue between their militaries, despite continuing disputes over Beijing’s claims to Taiwan and the South China Sea.”
Opinion: U.S. and China need better understanding of each other’s problems / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
Nan Li and John D. Van Fleet write: “While better communications will reduce information friction and improve decision-making by the leadership on both sides, both countries would be well served by ensuring that their respective houses are in better order.”

U.S.-China flashpoints over South China Sea
Chinese fighter jet nearly crashes into U.S. bomber / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
“A Chinese fighter jet came within 10 feet, about 3 meters, of a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flying over the South China Sea on Tuesday night, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement released on Thursday.”
Chinese jet flies within 10 feet of U.S. bomber, Pentagon says / NYT (paywall)
Pentagon says video shows Chinese jet’s close approach to B-52 / NYT (paywall)

South China Sea code of conduct
Beijing, Asean to start on third reading of South China Sea code of conduct / SCMP (paywall)
“Beijing and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have agreed to start on the third reading of a long-delayed code of conduct for the South China Sea amid rising tensions in the disputed waterway.”

Tightening of state secrets law
China to tighten its state secrets law in biggest revision in a decade / SCMP (paywall)
“All state employees with access to classified information will be banned from traveling overseas without prior approval — and even for a period after they leave the job or retire — under a draft revision of China’s state secrets law.”

Mongolia
China nudges Mongolia to join Eurasian security bloc / Reuters
“Chinese Premier Lǐ Qiáng 李強 said China will boost its cooperation with Mongolia under a Eurasian security bloc, which this year admitted its ninth member Iran, gently nudging its smaller neighbor to join a regional group that also includes Russia.”

Iran
China vows closer Iran ties on multilateral forums in first meeting since latest Israel-Gaza war / SCMP (paywall)
“China will boost coordination with Iran on multilateral platforms such as the United Nations, SCO and Brics, Premier Li Qiang said, as senior leaders of the two countries met for the first time since the latest Israel-Gaza war broke out.”

Afghanistan
Why China wants Taliban regime in Afghanistan to thrive / SCMP (paywall)
“All eyes were on high-profile guest Russian President Vladimir Putin when China recently hosted the belt and road forum. However, away from the spotlight, there were others present – rarely seen on the diplomatic stage but vital to Chinese geopolitical and regional interests.”

European Union
Four lost years: How the EU fumbled its response to China’s Belt and Road with Global Gateway strategy / SCMP (paywall)
“EU leaders will gather in Brussels this week to toast their flagship infrastructure drive Global Gateway, launched to much fanfare in 2021 as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

Tibetan education or assimilation?
China shows off a Tibetan boarding school that’s part of a system some see as forced assimilation / AP
“The Shangri-La Key Boarding School is an example of bilingual education, Chinese-style. Tibetan activists have a different term for it: forced assimilation. The issue is getting official attention this year, with U.N. human rights experts and representatives from the U.S. and a handful of other Western governments condemning the system.”

The end of panda diplomacy
D.C. pandas will be returning to China in mid-November, weeks earlier than expected / AP
“The National Zoo’s three celebrity giant pandas will be heading home a little earlier than expected. Zoo officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that adult bears Mei Xiang and Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji will be returning to China sometime in mid-November.”

Bridal fashion
Bridal fashion capital: How Chaozhou holds its place in the spotlight / Sixth Tone
“Chaozhou, once the world’s bridal gown-making hub, is resorting to legacy, adaptability, and originality as it grapples with challenges ranging from a shifting market to the pandemic.”

Beauty standards
‘Kayan’: The beauty buzzword sparking debate on Chinese social media / Sixth Tone
“Social posts related to the buzzword ‘kayan’ have surged in recent months, with users sharing tales of being denied entry to nightclubs for not meeting beauty standards.”