Li Peng
Li Peng ( Chinese 李鵬 / 李鹏 , Pinyin Li Peng ; * 20th October 1928 in Chengdu in the province of Sichuan , † 22. July 2019 in Beijing ) from 1998 to 2003 Chairman of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China and had the second-highest office in of the Communist Party of China after Jiang Zemin in the party's Politburo. From 1987 to 1998, Li was Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the State Council. He is counted among the so-called third " Chinese leadership generation ".
Personal background
Li was born in Chengdu , Sichuan Province , the son of the writer Li Shuoxun . His father was one of the early Communist Party activists and a martyr of the revolution. Li was orphaned at the age of three when his father was executed by the Kuomintang . He was then adopted by the Zhou Enlais family, who, along with Mao Zedong, was probably the most important figure in the Communist Party. In 1945, Li joined the Communist Party.
Early career
Li had a technical education like many party cadres of his generation. He began studying science in Yan'an City in 1941 . After that he was sent to Moscow, where he was trained in the construction of hydroelectric plants. During this time he was chairman of the Chinese Student Union in the Soviet Union. A year later, the People's Republic of China was established and his adoptive father, Zhou Enlai, was named Prime Minister. Li managed to survive the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976 unscathed.
In 1979, Li became Deputy Minister for Energy Industry, and in 1981 he was promoted to Minister. He also headed the Communist Party organizations that dealt with the problems of energy and water supply.
In 1982 Li was elected to the Central Committee at the Twelfth National Congress of the Communist Party . Since 1983, Li has been the deputy prime minister of the State Council. In addition, Li served as Minister for the Education Commission of China from 1985. In 1985 he was promoted to the Politburo and the party secretariat.
At the same time, the People's Republic of China was marked by political problems such as a growing number of dissidents, as well as social problems such as inflation , rural exodus and overcrowded schools. Li's attention was drawn from the problems of energy supply to internal party discussions about how to proceed with economic reforms.
While students and intellectuals pushed for faster and broader reforms, many older party comrades feared that opening up quickly would make the country unstable, missing the goal of economic progress.
Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China
Hu Yaobang , a protégé of Deng Xiaoping and a driving force behind economic reforms, was blamed for a series of protests and was forced to resign as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in January 1987. Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang succeeded him as Secretary General, and Li, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, succeeded him as Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China and a permanent member of the Politburo.
After Zhao became the party's general secretary, he proposed in May 1988 that price reform be accelerated. This led to many complaints from the population about rising inflation . Opponents of the rapid reforms demanded greater centralization of the management of the economy and greater isolation from influence from the West. This ended in a political discussion that intensified in the winter of 1988/1989.
When Hu Yaobang died on April 15, 1989 , and many people's economic situation became more difficult due to high inflation, student protests broke out, in which large parts of the urban population took part.
The students used the relaxed political atmosphere to draw attention to a number of grievances for which they blamed the slow pace of reforms. Li, who was heavily influenced by older party comrades, took the opposite view: he estimated that the rapid pace of reform had led to confusion and frustration among students.
Because Li was close to the veterans of the revolution, especially his political foster father Chen Yun , he was more conservative than many of his contemporaries and supported more centralized planning of the economy and the associated slower economic growth. Although Li, like Deng Xiaoping, advocated the reforms, he believed that economic growth and the transition to a market economy needed a stable social and political base.
Tian'anmen
The students and other citizens of Beijing gathered in Tian'anmen Square , where they mourned Hu Yaobang together and protested the slowdown in reform. Although the government tried to stop the protests, the crowd grew, calling for an end to the corruption and respect for civil rights enshrined in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China . The protests spread to other cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou . The demonstrations came at a time when many communist governments in Eastern Europe were already threatening to collapse. The leadership of the Communist Party of China, but especially Li, feared that the government of the People's Republic of China could also be overthrown by the protests in Tian'anmen Square. Prime Minister Li supported Deng Xiaoping's decision to quell the protests and proclaimed martial law in May 1989 , which led to the Tian'anmen massacre . Western estimates assume around 3,000 dead and between 7,000 and 10,000 injured. In June 1989, he was also involved in the release and arrest of Zhao Ziyang , who opposed Deng.
After the crisis surrounding the protests in Tian'anmen Square, Li was re-elected to the highest decision-making body, the Communist Party Politburo. This was the third time in a row that he entered the inner circle of the Chinese Communist Party. With the support of conservative forces like Chen Yun , he tried to reverse some of the market reforms and strengthen the role of economic planning. The governors of many provinces, including Deng Xiaoping, resisted these efforts, and Deng's famous trip to the south in 1992 is seen by many as a blow to economically conservative forces. The proposal drawn up by Li to reduce the role of the markets was dropped after fierce opposition.
The decade of Li serving as Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China was marked by rapid economic growth. Great progress has been made in restructuring the economy and opening it up to international markets. Li's numerous visits abroad promoted relations between the People's Republic of China and other countries.
Chairman of the National People's Congress
Li remained prime minister until 1998, when he resigned because the constitution only allows two terms in office. He then became chairman of the National People's Congress. He spent a lot of time overseeing the construction of the Three Gorges Dam , which he considered his life's work. Like many politicians of his generation who have a technical education, he oversaw a large and rapidly growing industry and viewed himself as a doer and modernizer.
Political legacy
Even after his retirement and at the old age of over 80, Li had a great influence on politics. The politician Luo Gan , who was a member of the Politburo from 1997 to 2007, is considered his protégé.
Li is seen by many as the most unpopular politician in the People's Republic of China. This is due to his image of an uncharismatic hardliner and, above all, to his role in suppressing the protests on Tian'anmen Square. Opponents of the regime refer to him as the butcher of Tian'anmen , although it is not known exactly how much influence Li was in the enforcement of martial law.
Private
Li was married with two sons and a daughter.
About his daughter Li Xiaolin funds were the family by setting up offshore - letterbox companies relocated from China to other countries. In 2005 "Tianwo Development Ltd." and "Tianwo Holdings Ltd." were founded in the British Virgin Islands .
literature
- Jen-Kai Liu: China's second generation of leaders. Biographies and dates on the life and work of Li Peng, Qiao Shi, Tian Jiyun, Zhao Ziyang, Hu Qili, Hu Yaobang, Wang Zhaoguo. Institute for Asian Studies, 1989, ISBN 3-88910-069-4
Web links
- Tagesspiegel: Nobody Loves Li Peng Article from March 5, 2003 on the occasion of Li Peng's withdrawal from Chinese politics.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Former Chinese premier Li Peng dies aged 90. July 23, 2019, accessed on July 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Tagesschau.de: Delicate deals from China's power elite ( Memento from January 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Secret deals of the powerful and the rich - interactive graphic on offshore leaks , Süddeutsche.de of January 21, 2014
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Zhao Ziyang |
Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China 1987–1998 |
Zhu Rongji |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Li Peng |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lĭ Péng; 李鹏 (Chinese) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chinese politician, chairman of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 20, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cheng you |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 22, 2019 |
| Place of death | Beijing |