China holds memorial meeting for ex-Prez Jiang Zemin

President Xi Jinping paid rich tributes to the late Jiang Zemin for overseeing China’s rise as a major economic powerhouse and guiding the ruling Communist Party through some of its toughest challenges at a memorial meeting held here on Tuesday.

The hour-long memorial meeting was held at the ornate Great Hall of the People to commemorate the legacy of former Chinese President Jiang who had leukaemia and died of multiple organ failure on November 30 in Shanghai at the age of 96.

Jiang was the President and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, regarded as the toughest time for the country and the CPC.

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“Comrade Jiang Zemin bade farewell to us,” Xi said in a speech at the memorial meeting.

“His reputation, achievement and charisma will always be a part of history and engraved in people’s hearts, generation after generation,” he said.

Praising the late leader for handling a host of challenges at home and abroad, Xi mentioned the political turmoil in the late 80s and early 90s, a euphemism for the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in which thousands of student protesters demanding democracy and freedom of speech were killed.

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Jiang was widely regarded as the Chinese leader who managed to end China’s pariah status internationally following the Tiananmen crackdown, besides steering the country through the economic crisis.

Xi praised Jiang for unswervingly upholding the rule of socialism while persisting with economic reforms and tightening the ideological controls, laying a solid foundation for the development of the country during his tenure.

While eulogising Jiang, Xi called on the party, military and the people to rally around the CPC under his leadership to achieve the rejuvenation of the Chinese people.

One of the black banners hung at the Great Hall of the People where the ceremony was held read: “Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, we will inherit the will of Comrade Jiang Zemin and push forward the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era!”

On Monday, state television showed footage of Xi attending Jiang’s funeral accompanied by former President Hu Jintao.

Hu hit the global headlines on October 22 when he was unceremoniously ushered out during the last day of the once-in-a-five-year Congress of the CPC which conferred a record third term to Xi.

In a viral video Hu, sitting next to Xi, was seen resisting leaving the podium. The official media later said he was taken out as he was not feeling well.

Xi succeeded Hu, 79, in 2012 as the head of the CPC. Hu was the immediate successor of Jiang in 2002.

On Tuesday, Xi and other senior leaders of the CPC including former Premier Wen Jiabao and the top military officials besides Jiang's widow, Wang Yeping, attended a nationally televised memorial service of Jiang.

The memorial meeting began with a three-minute-long blowing of sirens all over the country during which the leaders observed silence in front of a giant-size photo of Jiang in the Great Hall of People.

This was followed by a memorial speech by Xi recalling Jiang's contribution to the development of China and the CPC in the most difficult times in their history.

Jiang's death comes as China sees some of its most serious protests since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations, with many protesting against harsh Covid-19 restrictions in the country.

There is a sense of disquiet in Beijing over anti-zero covid protests in which slogans calling for President Xi to step down have been raised.

Significantly, ahead of Jiang's memorial service, Beijing city authorities announced major relaxations in testing norms under the zero-covid policy.

Security has been beefed up in Beijing, Shanghai and several other cities that witnessed anti-zero covid measures, rattling the government as it prepared for Jiang's memorial.

Deaths of top Chinese leaders including former premier Zhou Enlai and former General Secretary of the CPC Hu Yaobang followed mass protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

While the military dispersed mass protests after Zhou died in 1976, hundreds of students were reported to have been killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, demanding democracy and freedom of speech following the death of Hu, the Communist leader who pursued political and economic reforms.

Police in Beijing announced last week that sections of the city will be closed to traffic for Monday and Tuesday as part of preparations for an official memorial service of Jiang.

Roads in much of the city's west would be off-limits to public buses, trains, cars and pedestrians, with only designated vehicles and personnel allowed to use the routes, the announcement said.

The present CPC leadership followed the same pattern for the funeral of Deng Xiaoping, regarded as the country's Paramount Leader for pioneering economic reforms.

Jiang was widely acclaimed for his leadership after Mao Zedong and Deng, the two iconic leaders of the CPC, and credited with leading China out of isolation from the ignominy of the Chinese military crushing the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.

He was also credited with putting China on a sustained path of economic development, laying the foundation for it to emerge as the second-largest economy in the world.

An official letter, which announced Jiang's death on November 30, also called for strengthening the leadership of Xi.

"Jiang's death is an inestimable loss to our Party, our military and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups," said the letter published in the official media here.

"We must rally around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core with greater resolve and purpose, and adhere to the Party's basic theory, basic line, and basic policy," it said.

Xi, 69, was re-elected for an unprecedented third consecutive term by a once-in-a-five-year Congress of the CPC in October this year.

All of Xi's predecessors, including Jiang, retired after two five-year terms, though Jiang continued as head of the military for two years after he relinquished the Presidency in 2002.

In 13 years as the party general secretary, China's most powerful post, Jiang guided the country's rise to economic power by welcoming capitalists into the ruling party and pulling in foreign investment after China joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

China overtook Germany and then Japan to become the second-largest economy after the United States.

Jiang gave up his last official title in 2004 but remained a force behind the scenes in the wrangling that led to the rise of current President Xi, who took power in 2012.