Jiang Zemin, the former leader who paved the way for the rise of China, has died at the age of 96

Beijing
CNN
–

China’s state news agency Xinhua announced Wednesday the death of Jiang Zemin, the Chinese Communist leader who paved the way for the country’s emergence as a global superpower. He was 96 years old.

The former head of the ruling Communist Party and head of state died of leukemia and associated multi-organ failure on Wednesday in Shanghai. He left behind his wife, two sons and a grandson.

After being shunned by the West in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, China — with Jiang as its leader — it successfully reintegrated itself into the international community by restoring sovereignty over it Hong Kongwinning the bid to host the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and, perhaps most importantly, joining the World Trade Organization.

“The Man Who Changed China: The Life and Legacy of Jiang Zemin” said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, author of a 2005 biography.

“As to the economic course which was set out, it is quite clear to me that it was established during that period, and became irreversible at the end of his term in office.”

Despite this, many observers are also of the opinion that Jiang’s reign sowed the seeds of rampant corruption, which remains a dampener of massive resentment to this day. He promoted the benefit of “everyone quietly making a fortune” while still emphasizing one-party rule over political reform.

Initially considered a transitional figure, the relatively unknown Jiang was chosen in 1989 by then Supreme Leader Deng Xiaoping to head the party after Bloody military repression A nationwide pro-democracy movement that same year led to the ouster of Zhao Ziyang, a former party chairman sympathetic to the protesters.

“Jiang was a contradictory figure and an accidental leader,” said Bin Hu, founder and CEO of Mirror Media Group, an influential New York-based Chinese-language publisher of books and websites on Chinese politics. “He admired and respected Western cultures – but also had to live within the Chinese political system.”

He added, “He was not ready to become a leader with a good idea and a great vision.” “He only extended Deng’s rule by implementing Deng’s policies.”

These policies focused on economic liberalization and globalization, improving living standards as well as widening the wealth gap, while maintaining the party’s iron grip on political, ideological, and military affairs in the world’s most populous country.

A former party chief and mayor of Shanghai, China’s largest city, Jiang proved to be a more shrewd politician than many expected, outsmarting countless political rivals and consolidating his power in the party and the military in just a few years, especially after Deng’s death. in 1997. He installed key allies and proteges throughout the party and government, and headed the so-called “Shanghai clique”, whose influence lasted longer than his time in office.

In a clear sign of Jiang’s relative openness and flexibility, he welcomed private entrepreneurs—the de facto capitalists—to the Communist Party with open arms. In 2001, a year before he stepped down as leader, Jiang announced that the party would formally accept entrepreneurs as its members, an important step that reinvigorated the party and boosted China’s thriving private sector.

His rule was also marked by the government’s harsh repression of the Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that Beijing described as an evil cult. The group’s hardline followers have sought Jiang’s arrest for “crimes against humanity” around the world, and he frequently pursued the Chinese leader during his foreign visits.

Starting in late 2002, Jiang handed the titles over to his successor, Hu Jintao, first as party chairman, and then as president. But he clung to his military post until 2005, and even after his official retirement, he continued to wield behind-the-scenes political influence, including handpicking current Chinese leader Xi Jinping — who recently assumed an unprecedented third term, paving the way. way to rule for life.

Xi, the most powerful leader of the People’s Republic since its founder, Mao Zedong, has murdered political opponents including Jiang’s faction. It also reasserted the dominance of the ruling Communist Party in every aspect of Chinese society, retracting much of the economic and personal freedoms seen in the days of Deng, Jiang, and Huo.

that An unprecedented wave of protests Protests against the country’s strict “zero Covid” policy have erupted across China in recent days, with some protesters in Shanghai calling for Xi to step down. Given the history of people in China taking to the streets to mourn the deaths of former leaders while airing their grievances against current governments, Jiang’s death comes at a particularly sensitive time.

Born in eastern China in 1926 and educated in pre-communist Shanghai, Jiang was trained to become an electrical engineer. He reportedly joined the party while in college and studied in the former Soviet Union in the 1950s. He gradually rose through the party ranks, becoming Minister of Electronics Industry in 1983 before being appointed Mayor of Shanghai two years later.

Noted for wearing heavy, black-rimmed glasses, Jiang was also known for his penchant for flaunting his linguistic and artistic skills — reciting Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in English and singing “O Sole Mio” in Italian to foreign dignitaries.

“I feel that no matter what one’s profession is, if one can enjoy reading some literature, enjoying some music, it can be very beneficial to a person’s healthy development,” Jiang told CNN. Individual interview in May 1997.

Jiang’s flamboyant personality and cosmopolitan flair, while sometimes ridiculed during his reign, have made him unexpectedly popular online in recent years with a surge of social media users in China. Reminiscent of a relatively more relaxed political and social atmosphere under him.

Many often point to his sudden decision in 1997 to agree to live broadcast on national television of a joint press conference with Bill Clinton, during which he got into a heated debate with the visiting US president on the issue of human rights in China.

“I think he was underestimated during his lifetime,” said Orville Schell, a leading American scholar on China. “Compared to Hu Jintao and Xi, he was very straightforward, open and friendly.”

“He was one of the few Chinese leaders who wanted to be a normal world leader, not a communist dictator.”