11/30/22, 10:21 PM Jiang Zemin: Former Chinese leader dies aged 96 - BBC News

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Jiang Zemin: Former Chinese leader dies aged 96

8 hours ago

REUTERS

By Stephen McDonell & Tessa Wong

BBC News, Beijing and Singapore

China's former leader Jiang Zemin, who came to power after the Tiananmen
Square protests, has died at 96.

State media said he had died just after 12:00 local time (04:00 GMT), in
Shanghai, on Wednesday.

Jiang presided over a time when China opened up on a vast scale and saw
high-speed growth.

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11/30/22, 10:21 PM Jiang Zemin: Former Chinese leader dies aged 96 - BBC News
His death comes as China sees some of its most serious protests since ADVERTISEMENT
Tiananmen, with many demonstrating against Covid restrictions.

A Chinese Communist Party statement said he died of leukaemia and multiple

organ failure.

It added that he was recognised "as an outstanding leader with high prestige"
and "a long-tested Communist fighter".

OBITUARY: Jiang Zemin

REACTION: China’s web users remember ‘Grandpa Jiang’

State media outlets, including the Global Times and the Xinhua news agency,
turned their websites black and white in tribute.

State broadcaster CCTV lauded his role after the bloody 1989 crackdown on
protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

"During the serious political turmoil in China in the spring and summer of
1989, Comrade Jiang Zemin supported and implemented the correct decision
of the Party Central Committee to oppose unrest, defend the socialist state
power and safeguard the fundamental interests of the people," it said.

The event saw China ostracised internationally and sparked a bitter power
struggle at the top of the Communist Party between hard-line reactionaries
and reformers.

It led to Jiang, who had originally been seen as a plodding bureaucrat, being
elevated to high office. He was chosen as a compromise leader, in the hope he
would unify hardliners and more liberal elements.

Under his stewardship, a formidable economy was forged, the Communists

tightened their grip on power, and China took its place at the top table of
world powers.

He oversaw the peaceful handover of Hong Kong in 1997, and China's entry
into the World Trade Organization in 2001 which intertwined the country with
the global economy.

But political reforms were also put to one side and he crushed internal dissent
while pursuing a hardline stance on Taiwan. He was criticised for the heavy-
handed crackdown on the religious sect Falun Gong in 1999, which was seen
as a threat to the Communist Party.

WITNESS HISTORY: China's Crackdown on Falun Gong

TIANANMEN SQUARE: What happened in the protests of 1989?

He was also keen to ensure that his position within the Communist Party was
secure, and came up with his own political ideology - the Three Represents
theory - in an attempt to modernise the party.

During his time in power, Jiang sought to strengthen ties with the US, visiting
the country several times and offering then-president George W Bush co-
operation in Washington's "war on terror" following the 9/11 attacks.

In a country not known for its flamboyant leaders, he was seen as having a
more colourful personality than his successors. He memorably crooned Elvis
Presley at a global summit, and went for a swim off the Hawaiian coast.

In his later years he withdrew from government and was rarely seen in public.
But even as he became less conspicuous, online he became an unlikely subject
of viral internet memes.

Many Chinese affectionately caricaturised his signature large spectacles, and

likened his appearance to a toad. Young fans called themselves "toad
worshippers".

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11/30/22, 10:21 PM Jiang Zemin: Former Chinese leader dies aged 96 - BBC News
But others have warned against feeling nostalgic for the Jiang Zemin era.

Wang Dan, one of the 1989 student leaders who now lives outside China,
called him "a typical political opportunist".

"Jiang Zemin appeared to be open-minded, but in fact he tried to change back

to a planned economy... but was stopped by Deng Xiaoping. He has always
been a conservative politically," he tweeted (in Chinese).

Some wonder if Jiang's death might trigger more protests in China now - just
as the death of former Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang led to the
Tiananmen Square protests 33 years ago.

But Rose Luqiu, an associate journalism professor at Hong Kong Baptist

University, doesn't believe it's likely.

"He had disappeared from the public view for a long time," she told the BBC.

Jiang's successors as president, Hu Jintao - who was conspicuously removed

from the CCP conference last month - and Xi Jinping, are scheduled to attend
his funeral, according to a letter released by the state backed Global Times.

But the letter added that foreign leaders and governments will not be invited
to the event. The funeral committee said the decision was in keeping with
what it called "China's practice".

Additional reporting by the BBC's Grace Tsoi

More on this story

Obituary: Jiang Zemin

8 hours ago

Tiananmen Square: What happened in the protests of 1989?

23 December 2021
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63805991 3/11
11/30/22, 10:21 PM Jiang Zemin: Former Chinese leader dies aged 96 - BBC News

Tiananmen: China's great act of 'forgettance'

1 June 2019

How the West invited China to eat its lunch

10 December 2021

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