Post #151018

China ex-Premier Li Keqiang, sidelined by Xi Jinping, dies at 68 China's former Premier Li Keqiang died of a heart attack on Friday, just 10 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 of a more open market economy, advocating for supply-side reforms in an approach dubbed "Likonomics" - which 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. read more