Status: 11/30/2022 10:39 am
Former Chinese president and party leader Jiang has died at the age of 96, according to a report by Chinese state television. He paved the way for China to become a global superpower.
Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin has died at the age of 96, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. He was suffering from leukemia and died in Shanghai as a result of multiple organ failure. All rescue attempts failed, it said.
In the past few weeks there had already been rumors that he was unwell or that he might have died. “Comrade Jiang Zemin” was recognized as an “outstanding leader of high prestige” in the state agency’s death notice. He was a “great Marxist and great proletarian revolutionary”.
Jiang put China on the path to becoming a great power
Jiang came to power in 1989 after the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing and the overthrow of the reformist party leader Zhao Ziyang. The former mayor of Shanghai was General Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the Chinese Communist Party until 2002 and President from 1993 to 2003. He steered the development of the world’s most populous country into a great power.
Even after retiring from public office, the senior continued to exert considerable influence behind the scenes, beginning around 2002 with Hu Jintao. As a “strong man” in the background, he often pulled the strings. However, the new head of state and party leader Xi Jinping was not part of his political clique. Many of his followers fell victim to Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. Critics accused the current head of state and party of having gotten rid of his opponents.