Li Xiannian

The sources were from the office of Li Xiannian, the former president and now the head of an important advisory body.

LI XIANNIAN, 1985 — Li's visit came amid heightened Cold War tensions when the U.S. and China found common cause opposing the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Just the evening before, Abe spoke briefly with Li Xiaolin, the daughter of former Chinese president Li Xiannian and said to be close to Xi, at a dance performance in Tokyo.

In 1989, in the crisis set off by the Tiananmen Square protests, Li Xiannian and Chen Yun, two other “immortals,” had a say in selecting top leaders, too.

Eighteen months later President Li Xiannian followed in his footsteps, signing a co-operation deal on technology for nuclear power generation with President Reagan.