Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin dies aged 96

Tags: Person in news International News

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin  died on 30 November, 2022 at the age of 96 in Shanghai, of leukaemia and multiple organ failure. 

Important facts

• He was the first Chinese President to visit India in 1996 when India and China moved towards normalising the bilateral ties.

• Jiang was China's president from 1993-2003.

• Under his leadership, Hong Kong was peacefully handed over to China in 1997 and China joined the World Trade Organization, which laid the groundwork for China to become the world's second largest economy with high-speed development.

• Jiang Zemin took command of China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.

• He consolidated the powers of the Communist Party of China, weeded out internal dissent, and in 1999 cracked down on the religious sect Falun Gong, which was seen as a threat to the party.

• He is also credited with the country's further integration with the global order and higher status as a world power.

India - China relation in his tenure

• His visit to India in 1996 was seen as a major step towards the normalisation of India-China bilateral relations.

• During his visit, the two countries signed a comprehensive agreement to restore peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and reached a consensus on building a constructive and cooperative partnership.

• Both sides signed several agreements for confidence building in the military sector along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

• Both sides also discussed reducing border troops.

• This was followed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China in 2003, when both sides decided to appoint their respective Special Representatives (SRs) to explore a solution to the boundary issue under the framework of the Boundary Agreement.

• Jiang was then the chairman of the Central Military Commission and Hu Jintao took over as the Chinese President in 2002, a year earlier.