Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang dies after suffering heart attack

Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has died after suffering a heart attack at the age of 68, state media reported Friday. 

Li, a reform-minded administrator, was once hailed as the country's future leader, only to be overshadowed by President Xi Jinping, whom he served as premier for ten years.

According to Xinhua, Li suffered a heart attack on Thursday and died in the early hours of Friday in Shanghai, where he had been resting.  

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During his tenure as premier, Li acquired a reputation as a more contemporary apparatchik in comparison to his tougher predecessors.

He was a professional bureaucrat who spoke good English and advocated for economic changes.

He had liberal impulses in his youth, but he toed the party line for decades, and his image suffered as a result of his management of an HIV/AIDS outbreak caused by a contaminated blood donation scheme while he was party chief in Henan province.