Parliamentary ballot formally confirms appointment of former 'sent-down youth' as Wen Jiabao's successor
China has formally installed Li Keqiang as the country's premier, putting him in charge of the world's second largest economy via a ballot of its rubber-stamp parliament on Friday.
Li, who replaces Wen Jiabao, has held the number two position in the Communist party since November. The National People's Congress – which officially selected Xi Jinping as president on Thursday in a similar vote – is implementing the final stages of the country's once-a-decade leadership transition.
Western diplomats and business people have warmed to 57-year-old Li, thanks in part to his fluent English and confidence with a wide range of ideas. He holds a degree in law and doctorate in economics; his wife is an English professor and their daughter is thought to be a postgraduate student in the US.
In a 2007 diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks, the then US ambassador described him as engaging, well-informed and humorous; coy about his hobbies and interests even at their private dinner, but frank in describing Chinese GDP figures as "manmade" and unreliable.
"He has an obvious sharp intelligence. He talks in quite a clipped way; he responds to things quickly," observed Kerry Brown, a China specialist at the University of Sydney.
Li's university days – when, as a liberally-minded student, he befriended activist peers who went on to become jailed and exiled dissidents – have excited suggestions that he could prove a reformer.
Yet throughout his career he has proved pragmatic and often cautious. Sceptics point to his very success and the patronage of former president Hu Jintao as evidence that he poses little threat to the status quo.
Li's father was a mid-ranking cadre in Anhui province and Li spent years labouring in the desperately poor county of Fengyang as a "sent-down youth" in the latter stages of the Cultural Revolution.
Yang Baikui, a former friend and fellow scholar, describes it as a formative, humbling experience: "Without having worked in the countryside, they [Li and other leaders] would have a gap in their understanding of what China is.
"When you watch him on the news, you can see he's one of the people ... When he meets them every smile is real."
When universities reopened, Li won a place at Peking University in the fiercely contested entrance exams. It was not only an elite institution, but also a notably liberal one.
A key influence was Gong Xiangrui, a law professor who had studied in the west and who set Li and Yang to translating an English textbook on constitutional law by Lord Denning.
But while Li was intellectually voracious and a dedicated student activist, he did not challenge authorities on a practical level, said contemporaries.
"His thinking was very open. But his behaviour was very prudent," said Yang. He and others were convinced even then that Li was headed for high office.
"We knew the top leaders would come from Peking or Tsinghua University; if you were a top student leader, you would have a chance to become a leader of the country," said Wang Juntao, a former friend jailed for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen protests and now living in exile in the US.
"From a very early age he showed he wanted to contribute to the public interest."
After university, Li worked his way up through the Communist Youth League, where he forged his crucial relationship with Hu Jintao.
By 1998 he was the country's youngest governor, in central Henan province, later becoming party secretary. But a spate of fatal blazes earned him the nickname "three fires Li" and activists are still angered by his handling of a scandal in which tens of thousands of peasants were infected with HIV after selling their blood in an officially-backed scheme.
Though the problems began before his time, "he should be held responsible for the coverup from 1998 to 2002 when thousands of people died in silence ... He is not honest and direct," said Wan Yanhai, an HIV activist who now lives in the US.
In 2004, Li took over north-eastern Liaoning, moving back to Beijing in 2007. Suggestions that he might succeed Hu proved too hasty; instead, Xi was picked as heir apparent, with Li lined up to succeed as premier.
His endorsement of last year's China 2030 report – by the World Bank and a top-level state research centre – gave hope to reformers because of its calls for substantial financial, economic and social changes. Yet others sound a note of caution.
"Xi Jinping seems more decisive than Li Keqiang ... Li generally follows other people," said Chen Ziming, another Beijing-based scholar who knew Li as a student.
And whatever Li believes deep down, note his old friends, he is constrained by the reality of Chinese politics.
"He wants to keep his place in the party system so he has to hide himself; it doesn't matter whether he is keeping it for himself, his family, his influence on history or the public interest," said Wang.
"Secondly, even if he wants to do good things, he can't get rid of the party and the interest groups. They control all the opportunities and resources.
"I don't think he has changed in his heart. But I don't think he has a chance to become a good official. The party and government are too corrupt." Reported by guardian.co.uk 9 hours ago.
China has formally installed Li Keqiang as the country's premier, putting him in charge of the world's second largest economy via a ballot of its rubber-stamp parliament on Friday.
Li, who replaces Wen Jiabao, has held the number two position in the Communist party since November. The National People's Congress – which officially selected Xi Jinping as president on Thursday in a similar vote – is implementing the final stages of the country's once-a-decade leadership transition.
Western diplomats and business people have warmed to 57-year-old Li, thanks in part to his fluent English and confidence with a wide range of ideas. He holds a degree in law and doctorate in economics; his wife is an English professor and their daughter is thought to be a postgraduate student in the US.
In a 2007 diplomatic cable obtained by WikiLeaks, the then US ambassador described him as engaging, well-informed and humorous; coy about his hobbies and interests even at their private dinner, but frank in describing Chinese GDP figures as "manmade" and unreliable.
"He has an obvious sharp intelligence. He talks in quite a clipped way; he responds to things quickly," observed Kerry Brown, a China specialist at the University of Sydney.
Li's university days – when, as a liberally-minded student, he befriended activist peers who went on to become jailed and exiled dissidents – have excited suggestions that he could prove a reformer.
Yet throughout his career he has proved pragmatic and often cautious. Sceptics point to his very success and the patronage of former president Hu Jintao as evidence that he poses little threat to the status quo.
Li's father was a mid-ranking cadre in Anhui province and Li spent years labouring in the desperately poor county of Fengyang as a "sent-down youth" in the latter stages of the Cultural Revolution.
Yang Baikui, a former friend and fellow scholar, describes it as a formative, humbling experience: "Without having worked in the countryside, they [Li and other leaders] would have a gap in their understanding of what China is.
"When you watch him on the news, you can see he's one of the people ... When he meets them every smile is real."
When universities reopened, Li won a place at Peking University in the fiercely contested entrance exams. It was not only an elite institution, but also a notably liberal one.
A key influence was Gong Xiangrui, a law professor who had studied in the west and who set Li and Yang to translating an English textbook on constitutional law by Lord Denning.
But while Li was intellectually voracious and a dedicated student activist, he did not challenge authorities on a practical level, said contemporaries.
"His thinking was very open. But his behaviour was very prudent," said Yang. He and others were convinced even then that Li was headed for high office.
"We knew the top leaders would come from Peking or Tsinghua University; if you were a top student leader, you would have a chance to become a leader of the country," said Wang Juntao, a former friend jailed for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen protests and now living in exile in the US.
"From a very early age he showed he wanted to contribute to the public interest."
After university, Li worked his way up through the Communist Youth League, where he forged his crucial relationship with Hu Jintao.
By 1998 he was the country's youngest governor, in central Henan province, later becoming party secretary. But a spate of fatal blazes earned him the nickname "three fires Li" and activists are still angered by his handling of a scandal in which tens of thousands of peasants were infected with HIV after selling their blood in an officially-backed scheme.
Though the problems began before his time, "he should be held responsible for the coverup from 1998 to 2002 when thousands of people died in silence ... He is not honest and direct," said Wan Yanhai, an HIV activist who now lives in the US.
In 2004, Li took over north-eastern Liaoning, moving back to Beijing in 2007. Suggestions that he might succeed Hu proved too hasty; instead, Xi was picked as heir apparent, with Li lined up to succeed as premier.
His endorsement of last year's China 2030 report – by the World Bank and a top-level state research centre – gave hope to reformers because of its calls for substantial financial, economic and social changes. Yet others sound a note of caution.
"Xi Jinping seems more decisive than Li Keqiang ... Li generally follows other people," said Chen Ziming, another Beijing-based scholar who knew Li as a student.
And whatever Li believes deep down, note his old friends, he is constrained by the reality of Chinese politics.
"He wants to keep his place in the party system so he has to hide himself; it doesn't matter whether he is keeping it for himself, his family, his influence on history or the public interest," said Wang.
"Secondly, even if he wants to do good things, he can't get rid of the party and the interest groups. They control all the opportunities and resources.
"I don't think he has changed in his heart. But I don't think he has a chance to become a good official. The party and government are too corrupt." Reported by guardian.co.uk 9 hours ago.