Shanghai
Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang, a reform-minded bureaucrat once tipped as the country’s future leader only to be eclipsed by President Xi Jinping, died on Friday. He was 68. He had a heart attack on Thursday and passed away in Shanghai just after midnight, state-run news agency Xinhua said. Interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said he was “deeply saddened and shocked” to learn about Li’s passing and called him a “great friend of Pakistan”. “We fondly remember his visit to Pakistan in 2013. Our thoughts and sympathies are with late premier Li, his family and with the Chinese nation at this hour of grief,” he said on a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani remembered Li as a “statesman”, adding that he contributed to “strengthening” ties between Pakistan and China.
“As the then-foreign secretary, I organised his visit to Pakistan in May 2013. My thoughts are with premier Li, his family and the Chinese people,” he said.
