At the commemoration for the death of former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin at the Beijing State Memorial, everyone is really around the wreaths. In addition to his wife Wang Yeping, the highest state authorities and Chinese president Xi Jinping who paid tribute to Zemin with a solemn speech.
Zemin, passed away on November 30th“Zemin was a great leader and a great Marxist, he ensured the survival of the Communist Party from the political storms that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s, at home and abroad and in which global socialism suffered serious complications. In particular, President Xi Jinping, recently re-elected al his third term, unprecedented for the large Asian country where so far only two terms were expected for a leader, he praised former leader Zemin for supporting the government’s “clear opposition” to the pro-democracy protests of Tiananmen Square in 1989while the country faced severe turmoil.
“At the turn of the spring and summer of 1989, there was a serious political storm in China,” referring to the pro-democracy demonstrations. “Comrade Jiang Zemin has firmly supported and carried out the government’s just decision on its outright opposition to the unrest, defending the socialist state power and safeguarding the people’s fundamental interests,” Xi added, also recalling Jiang’s subsequent struggle to the “sanctions decided” by the West and other countries in response to Beijing’s crackdown on dissent.
“Zemin has injected new vitality and modernized the country’s economy,” he added as those present bowed.
The State Party head continued, among the attendees standing to listen to him, “Do not believe in evil, fear neither ghosts nor pressure, and do your best to overcome all kinds of difficulties and challenges on the way forward,” Xi said describing Jiang’s death as an incalculable loss. “The country must turn pain into strength and use its legacy to write a new chapter in the party’s development.”
Jiang’s death comes at a tumultuous time for China, where authorities are grappling with rare cases street protests widespread among residents tired of the harsh brakes of the Zero Covid-19 policythe workhorse of Xi’s policy, three years after the start of the pandemic.
