Posted on Nov 30, 2022
China's ex-leader Jiang Zemin, an influential reformer, has died at 96
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https://www.npr.org/2022/11/30/ [login to see] /jiang-zemin-former-chinese-leader-dies
Former Chinese leader and general secretary of the country's ruling Communist Party Jiang Zemin died at the age of 96, state news agency Xinhua announced. The cause of death was leukemia and multiple organ failure.
Jiang was a divisive and colorful figure at the forefront of political life for 15 years. Even after retirement, analysts say, he exercised influence — and in his last years, served as a counterweight to China's current leader, Xi Jinping.
Jiang got his break to be party leader in the aftermath of the chaos of the student-led protests centered on Tiananmen Square in 1989. China was a pariah. Jiang was tasked with restoring stability within a divided Communist Party — and rehabilitating the image of a government that had ordered the military to fire on its own citizens.
In a 2000 interview, CBS journalist Mike Wallace called Jiang "a dictator, an authoritarian." And Jiang objected.
"Very frankly speaking, I don't agree with your point," the Chinese leader said in English. "Your way of describing what things are like in China is as absurd as what the Arabian Nights may sound like."
Former Chinese leader and general secretary of the country's ruling Communist Party Jiang Zemin died at the age of 96, state news agency Xinhua announced. The cause of death was leukemia and multiple organ failure.
Jiang was a divisive and colorful figure at the forefront of political life for 15 years. Even after retirement, analysts say, he exercised influence — and in his last years, served as a counterweight to China's current leader, Xi Jinping.
Jiang got his break to be party leader in the aftermath of the chaos of the student-led protests centered on Tiananmen Square in 1989. China was a pariah. Jiang was tasked with restoring stability within a divided Communist Party — and rehabilitating the image of a government that had ordered the military to fire on its own citizens.
In a 2000 interview, CBS journalist Mike Wallace called Jiang "a dictator, an authoritarian." And Jiang objected.
"Very frankly speaking, I don't agree with your point," the Chinese leader said in English. "Your way of describing what things are like in China is as absurd as what the Arabian Nights may sound like."
China's ex-leader Jiang Zemin, an influential reformer, has died at 96
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