Beijing - Former Chinese president Jiang Zem died of leukaemia at and multiple organ failure aged 96, Chinese state media reported.
Jiang died at 12:13 p.m. (0413 GMT) in his home city of Shanghai, the official Xinhua news agency said, publishing a letter to the Chinese people by the ruling Communist Party, parliament, cabinet and the military announcing the death.
“Comrade Jiang Zemin’s death is an incalculable loss to our party and our military and our people of all ethnic groups,” the letter read, saying the announcement was made with “profound grief”.
It described “our beloved Comrade Jiang Zemin” as an outstanding leader of high prestige, a great Marxist, statesman, military strategist and diplomat and a long-tested communist fighter.
Jiang was plucked from obscurity to head China’s ruling Communist Party after the bloody Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989, but broke the country out of its subsequent diplomatic isolation, mending fences with the US and overseeing an unprecedented economic boom.
According to reports by Xinhua news, the national flags at Tian’anmen, Xinhuamen, the Great Hall of the People and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, as well as the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR and Chinese embassies and consulates in other countries will be flown at half mast.
During this period, mourning halls will be set up in the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong SAR, the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR and Chinese embassies and consulates in other countries to receive condolences expressed by people in the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR and in countries where Chinese embassies and consulates are located.
In accordance with China’s practice, foreign governments, political parties and friendly personages will not be invited to send delegations or representatives to China to attend the mourning activities.