Opinion | Li Keqiang and the politics of martyrdom
By Tom Fowdy
Over the weekend the sad news broke that former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had passed away. Li, who had held the role for a decade, was an economist who astutely managed China's economy. His passing at the age of 69 in Shanghai of a heartbreak was unexpected. Predictably, the Western mainstream media responded to his passing in their usual manner, deliberately politicizing his death and legacy in light of a factional power struggle with China's leader Xi Jinping, with most headlines stating he was "sidelined" accordingly.
Others, especially certain think-tankers and activists on Twitter, engaged in baseless speculation and conspiracy theories regarding the timing of his passing, as well as even tediously hoping that his death would trigger a political backlash and protests in the country. Of course while his death was very much mourned by the people of China, it is idealistic and nonsensical to assume the death of Li Keqiang will somehow trigger the "ideological change" they wish to see, as well as a deliberate misinterpretation of historical precedent.
The utilization of "martyrdom" is an age-old political tactic that strives to "immortalize" a human being's life and legacy by making it synonymous with a political message. The discourse of "Martyrdom" after all, the idea that someone has died or sacrificed themselves in favor of a cause or ideal, was religious before it became inherently political. Christianity, the world's largest religion, is built on the entire premise that one divine being given his entire life so that humanity could be redeemed, and the early history of the faith is littered with stories of Christians and saints who chose to endure execution than surrender their beliefs.
Similarly, in the modern era, the discourse of martyrdom is expressed through an emphasis on patriotism and fallen soldiers who died preserving the state and its ideology, as seen in Britain's Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. Martyrdom transfigures a once-living being in an eternal memory that can be symbolically revisited time and time again in order to make a permanent political point on behalf of a given political system. Thus, in reference to Chinese politics the discourse of "Martyrdom" and death is used repeatedly to critique the Communist Party State by aiming to glorify and immortalize those who have stood against it. In particular that certain incident that occurred 34 years ago.
Individual legacies are also given great importance, if necessary. When Dr. Li Wenliang died of COVID in early 2020, the Western media response was to transform into a "martyr" of which the purpose was to weaponize the pandemic against China's leadership and push a blame game of responsibility and culpability. Often in forming these "legacies", some form of exaggeration and fact twisting is adhered to. Li Wenliang after all, was a member of the Communist Party himself, yet his life is now depicted as that of a benevolent and heroic "whistleblower" who stood bravely against the regime and was persecuted for it. The facts actually are hardly as glorious.
Similarly, the current weaponization of Li Keqiang's death by the Western media is rooted in their desire to project and twist his legacy to send a message of the political outcomes they favor, and in turn, play upon factional struggles and disagreements within China to try and manipulate the domestic politics of the country. Although in reality, Li was a dedicated and loyal member of the Communist Party state elite, the mainstream media have portrayed him as an almost dissident figure who is described as being a "liberal" and "reformer" and used him to frame his legacy as antagonistic to that of Xi Jinping and therefore, as it goes, a "victim" to him.
In doing so, the Western media constantly seek to shape "their story" and "narrative" of China's politics and impose it on the country, and the fundamental way of doing that is to take every event and development that happens in the country and shape it in a critical angle to its current leadership, making a reporting environment so distorted that it seems implausible that any story can be just taken at the face value for what it is. In this narrative pitching, the conclusions have already been pre-determined and the goal is ultimately in this case, to weaponize death to undermine the state. Thus, while Li Keqiang was a loyal and patriotic Chinese statesman, the Western media have strived to take him and make him "their man" for the agenda they seek to push.
The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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