diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/docx/writer/from_html.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/docx/writer/from_html.py
index 2e645fce6a..5ed0467c8d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/docx/writer/from_html.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/docx/writer/from_html.py
@@ -576,11 +576,12 @@ class Convert(object):
         else:
             text = html_tag.text
             is_list_item = tagname == 'li'
-            if text and is_list_item and not text.strip():
+            has_sublist = is_list_item and len(html_tag) and barename(html_tag[0].tag) in ('ul', 'ol') and len(html_tag[0])
+            if text and has_sublist and not text.strip():
                 text = ''  # whitespace only, ignore
             if text:
                 block.add_text(text, tag_style, ignore_leading_whitespace=True, is_parent_style=True, link=self.current_link, lang=self.current_lang)
-            elif is_list_item and len(html_tag) and barename(html_tag[0].tag) in ('ul', 'ol') and len(html_tag[0]):
+            elif has_sublist:
                 block.force_not_empty = True
 
     def add_inline_tag(self, tagname, html_tag, tag_style, stylizer):