( CNN ) -- If body language is a good gauge of political standing , Li Keqiang is looking very much like China 's premier-in-waiting . Last Monday , Vice Premier Li delivered the keynote speech at the Boao Forum , a meeting of business and political leaders held yearly in southern Hainan province . Looking relaxed and confident , he ad-libbed briefly , gesticulating with both hands before he read his prepared speech . `` China 's reform has entered a crucial juncture '' , Li said , stressing that `` reform and innovation '' are the driving force to promote economic and social development . Li said reforms will focus on taxation , finance , prices and income distribution . No big pronouncements , no off-the-cuff remarks , no mistakes . Barring unforeseen political reversals , Li ( whose name is pronounced Lee Kuh-cheeyahng ) is expected to become the Chinese premier in March next year , succeeding Wen Jiabao . As the current executive vice premier , Li already oversees important portfolios , such macro economic planning , health care , energy and housing . He is already making an impact . Unlike his predecessors , Li 's speaks fairly good English . When he visited Hong Kong University last year , he delivered part of his speech in English -- a gesture that prompted debate in the mainland . Video clips of his speech went viral on social media . Some netizens thought it was `` inappropriate '' that he spoke in English . Others praised him for `` open-mindedness '' and for breaking away from the stoic style of Chinese leaders . How far Li will break away from old conventions , experts say , remains uncertain . Li is considered a carbon copy of President Hu Jintao , his mentor and benefactor , because of similarities in background , priorities and style . The son of a minor county official in Anhui , a poor province where Hu was also born , Li was a teenager when the decade-long Cultural Revolution interrupted his schooling . As an educated youth who need `` reeducation through labor '' , he worked on the farm for four years . There , at age 21 , he joined the Communist Party . In early 1978 , less than two years after Chairman Mao died , he entered Peking University to study law -- a discipline which in earlier years was reviled as `` bourgeois . '' Peking University in the late 1970s was a hub of intellectual and political ferment . I saw that up close when I studied there from 1977-81 . China then was at the end of the Maoist era and the beginning of Deng Xiaoping 's reform . Inside and outside classrooms , students and faculty debated big topics like `` Where to , China ? '' `` Like everyone in our generation Li Keqiang was keen for new ideas , '' recalls Yang Baihui , an international politics major . `` He had the social experience from the Cultural Revolution , so he was also pragmatic . '' Li collaborated with Yang and another student in translating `` The Due Process of Law , '' a book on constitutional law by the noted British judge Lord Alfred Denning . `` He was smart , intelligent and hard-working , '' recalls Jingzhou Tao , a former law-school classmate and now a partner at Dechert law firm . `` He was already a student leader at that time . '' In 1980 , Peking University held competitive elections for `` people 's representatives '' to the local legislature . Li did not stand for elections -- he happened to have an off-campus internship -- but as chairman of the student federation he spent time with politically active students like Wang Juntao , who campaigned but failed to get a seat . `` He had the typical traits of Peking University students then -- idealistic and independent , at times very out-spoken about certain issues , '' recalled Wang in a recent essay . After graduation , Li decided to work for the Communist Youth League ( CYL ) , a training ground for party and government officials . `` Since then , we 've stepped on different paths and our paths rarely crossed , '' wrote Wang . `` In the 1980s , as the CYL cadre in charge of student movement he handled several incidents , still in the old style like his college days -- control the scale of protests but never resort to political prosecution . '' In 1989 , however , their paths went in different directions . Li rose through the ranks of CYL while completing a master 's degree in law and then an economics doctorate under Li Yining , the guru of market reforms in China . Wang was jailed as a `` black hand '' for his role in the student protests that culminated in the bloody Tiananmen crackdown . Wang has been in exile in the United States since 1994 and is now co-chair of the China Democratic Party , which advocates radical change in China . At CYL , Li 's career intersected with Hu , who headed CYL for many years . Under Hu 's patronage , Li has been on a fast track to the top . In 1998 , Li at 43 became Henan 's provincial governor , the youngest in China . His brief stint there led to criticisms related to an outbreak of AIDS when the government-run blood banks infected tens of thousands of blood-sellers , some with HIV . Most of the infections actually happened before Li arrived in Henan , but critics accused him of tolerating the cover-up of the scandal . Li also survived three major fire accidents in Henan . In 2004 , he was appointed party chief of Liaoning , a rust-belt province in northeast China , and was tasked with reviving its ailing state-owned enterprises . As China 's executive vice premier , Li remains a stalwart supporter of Hu 's `` seek a harmonious society '' dictum . He advocates social equity and is skeptical of bureaucracy . A confidential U.S , embassy memo published on the WikiLeaks website describes Li telling the then-U.S. ambassador in Beijing that local economic data are `` for reference only . '' He acknowledged official corruption as the biggest source of public anger and thought the effective solution was to create transparent rules and adequate supervision . Like his mentor Hu , Li has risen to his high position more by avoiding big mistakes than through bold ideas and major accomplishments . Still , in substance and in style , expectations are high . Chinese microblogger `` Yudafengxue '' tweeted : `` Li is a better speaker than many Chinese top leaders but still needs to work on his stage presentation and body language . It 's part of China 's national image ! ''
Li is expected to become Chinese premier next March . In a Hong Kong speech last year , he delivered part of it in English . Whether he will break away from old conventions is not clear , FlorCruz writes . Li hails from the same province -- Anhui -- as his mentor , Chinese President Hu .