The United Nations and a number of foreign officials, including the Russian president and the top U.S. envoy to China, have expressed condolences on the passing of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
The delegates of the U.N. Security Council observed one minute of silence on Wednesday before a regular meeting. In a statement published on the same day, the organization’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Jiang a “steadfast advocate for international engagement” whose tenure was marked by “substantial economic progress.”
Jiang died on Wednesday at the age of 96 due to leukemia and multiple organ failure in Shanghai, according to China’s top political and military organs. His body was transferred to Beijing on Thursday, and a memorial gathering will be held on Tuesday.
U.S. Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, said Jiang had worked to advance the relations between the two countries “at a consequential time” while managing the differences, on his official Twitter account Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent condolences to President Xi Jinping Wednesday, calling the late former leader an “outstanding statesman” and “a sincere friend” to Russia who had made an “invaluable contribution” to the bilateral relations, in a statement published on the Kremlin website Wednesday. Jiang received technical training in Moscow in the 1950s.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the passing of Jiang, who was the first Chinese president to make an official visit to Japan in 1998. Kishida praised Jiang’s work in promoting reform and open-door policies in China and that he played an “important role” in Japan-China relations, in a Wednesday statement published on Kishida’s office website.
Singaporean President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also wrote to their Chinese counterparts, extending their deepest condolences. Lee praised Jiang’s leadership that guided China’s integration into the global economy and emergence on the world stage, adding that Jiang will “long be warmly remembered as an honoured friend of Singapore,” according to a statement published by the foreign affairs ministry of Singapore.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
Get our weekly free Must-Read newsletter.
