China’s leaders have eulogised the late Jiang Zemin as a loyal Marxist-Leninist who oversaw their country’s rapid economic rise while maintaining rigid Communist Party control over society.
China’s leaders have eulogised the late Jiang Zemin as a loyal Marxist-Leninist who oversaw their country’s rapid economic rise while maintaining rigid Communist Party control over society.
The President and current party leader Xi Jinping praised Mr Jiang in an hour-long address at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People as senior officials, military brass and rank-and-file soldiers stood at attention.
Mr Xi emphasised Mr Jiang’s role in maintaining political stability, in reference to his sudden elevation to top leader just ahead of the army’s bloody suppression of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement centred on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
The President said: “Comrade Jiang Zemin emphasized that our party is leading the people in a great struggle to build socialist modernization, and inevitably will encounter many complex situations.
