Only a farewell ceremony was held after cremation without a memorial service or national commemoration.
It is unlikely to lead to a second Tiananmen Square incident.
Pay attention to whether ‘political mentor Li Keqiang’ Hu Jintao will attend the funeral
The funeral of former State Council Premier Li Keqiang, scheduled for the 2nd, is expected to be held in a quiet atmosphere similar to that of former Premier Li Peng.
On the 1st, Hong Kong’s Mingbao reported that the Chinese leadership is expected to hold a funeral for former Premier Li Keqiang in line with former Premier Li Peng’s funeral.
Mingbao presented the evidence as the basis for the fact that former Premier Li Keqiang’s obituary is exactly the same as that of former Premier Li Peng.
Former Premier Li, who led the economy during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first and second terms in office, died of a heart attack in Shanghai at 0:10 a.m. (local time) on the 27th of last month. Former Prime Minister Li’s body was transported from Shanghai to Beijing on a special flight that day.
According to past precedents, when a top leader dies in China, a funeral committee is formed, a memorial service is held, and funerals are set up at the Hong Kong and Macao liaison offices and overseas embassies to receive condolences. However, when high-ranking officials other than the supreme leader die, no separate memorial service or nationwide memorial event is held, but only a farewell ceremony is held on the day of cremation.
Former Prime Minister Lee’s funeral will also be held in accordance with this precedent.
Additionally, the practice of cremating Chinese leaders has become a practice since the time of former Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. Mao Zedong’s body was specially embalmed and placed in the memorial hall, but the bodies of all other leaders were cremated and then placed in state.
It was analyzed that there were political variables behind the quiet funeral of former Prime Minister Lee.
Former Prime Minister Lee has been loved by the people by making confident statements at critical times even in a situation where Xi Jinping’s one-man rule system has been strengthened.
Concerns have been raised that the tribute to former Prime Minister Lee will expand into a political protest against the current administration.
This is because there is a precedent in China where a leader’s memorial event turned into a large-scale protest. The memorial event that took place following the death of then-Premier Zhou Enlai in 1976 led to the ‘April 5 Movement’ criticizing Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, and the event to commemorate then-General Secretary Hu Yaobang, who was classified as a reformist, led to the Tiananmen Democratization Movement in June 1989. triggered.
However, the general analysis is that under the strong control of the Chinese authorities, former Prime Minister Li’s funeral or memorial events will not lead to the same situation as the incidents in 1976 and 1989.
As the head of the Communist Party of China, a major faction of the Communist Party of China, attention is also being paid to whether he will attend the funeral of former President Hu Jintao, Li Keqiang’s political mentor. On October 22 last year, during the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Party Congress) held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, former President Hu suddenly walked out, attracting attention as to why.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.