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Jiang Zemin, former leader of China, has died at 96. Jiang presided over a time when China opened up on a vast scale and saw high-speed growth. His death comes as China sees some of its most serious protests since Tiananmen, with many demonstrating against Covid restrictions. A Chinese Communist Party statement said he died of leukaemia and multiple organ failure.
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Jiang rose to power after the bloody 1989 crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, which led to China being ostracised internationally. The event 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.
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Under Jiang Zemin’s 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.
