Shanghai (China), Nov 30 – Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who held office between 1993 and 2003, died today at the age of 96, the official press reported.
In a brief statement, the state news agency Xinhua indicated that the former president died in the eastern city of Shanghai, where he led the local branch of the Communist Party of China (CCP) in the 1980s, at 12:13 p.m. local time (04:13). GMT).
According to the aforementioned media, Jiang died of leukemia – a condition that had not been previously announced by the press or institutions – and multiple organ failure.
The politician, born in the eastern town of Yangzhou in 1926, was appointed general secretary of the CCP in 1989, the year in which he also took the reins of the country, although he was not named president until 1993.
The local press recalls today that Jiang’s last public appearance occurred on October 1, 2019, on the occasion of National Day and the celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the proclamation of the National Republic of China.
Jiang’s tenure was marked by continuity with the economic opening initiated by his predecessor and mentor, Deng Xiaoping, as well as by milestones such as China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 or the achievement of the Olympic Games. 2008 for Beijing, but also because of the persecution of the Falun Gong religious sect.