China’s ex-president and former head of CCP Jiang Zemin dies at 96

Asia-Pacific, News December 1, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Former president of the People’s Republic of China and ex-chief of the Chinese Communist Party Jiang Zemin passed away at the age of 96 in Shanghai on November 30, 2022.

The announcement of his death came through a letter released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. It was made public through China’s state-owned media outlets.

The announcement expressed profound grief over Jiang Zemin’s demise. The letter stated that “Comrade Jiang Zemin died of leukemia and multiple organ failure after all medical treatments had failed.” The letter described Jiang Zemin as an outstanding leader of high prestige, a great Marxist, statesman, military strategist and diplomat, and a long-tested communist fighter.

Flags at major Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and government buildings in China and worldwide will be flown at half-mast, state media reported. Home pages of all Chinese media websites, search engines as well as other major applications turned to black and white in mourning.

Jiang Zemin took control as the head of the CCP in 1989 and served as the President of China from 1993 to 2003. During his time as the leader, the country went through historic changes on the geopolitical and economic front. The return of Hong Kong from British rule in 1997 and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 are some of the major highlights of his presidency. It was also during his time that China achieved a long-cherished dream of winning the competition to host the Olympic Games of 2008.

Jiang Zemin was known for his policy-driving attitude. Being the head of the CCP for 13 years, he acted as a swift administrator and compromised himself as a policy-driven figure for different factions in the party. In 2002, Jiang Zemin announced to step down from the presidency which was to be handed on to Hu Jintao, however, despite leaving the presidential office, he pulled the strings of China’s administration in the background.

^{Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, with former presidents Jiang Zemin, right, and Hu Jintao, left, attend the celebration to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing, on October 1, 2019. (Image Credit: Ng Han Guan/AP)}

Jiang gave up his last official title as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 2004, but remained active in China’s political scene in the background and played a key role in bringing China’s current president Xi Jinping to power in 2012. He was known among the political circles as “Zhangzhe” (the senior).

In recent years Jiang had faded away from public view due to his deteriorating health. His last public appearance was in 2019 when he showed up at a military parade in Beijing celebrating the party’s 70th anniversary in power. He was also absent from the party congress last month.