Li Peng, former hard-line Chinese premier, dies at 90

Source: Los Angeles Times

BEIJING — Li Peng, a former hard-line Chinese premier best known for announcing martial law during the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that ended with a bloody crackdown by troops, has died. He was 90.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Li died Monday of an unspecified illness. His death was not announced until Tuesday evening.

Li, a keen political infighter, spent two decades at the pinnacle of power before retiring in 2002. He left behind a legacy of prolonged and broad-based economic growth coupled with authoritarian political controls.

While broadly disliked by the public, he oversaw China’s reemergence from post-Tiananmen isolation to rising global diplomatic and economic clout, a development he celebrated in often defiantly nationalistic public statements.


Read more: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-07-23/li-peng-chinese-premier-dies?hootPostID=666dd09058c67232fa75a30e9d7e0cfd