BEIJING, November 30. /TASS/. China’s former president and secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, has died at 96, China Central Television reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, Jiang Zemin died of leukemia and multiple organ failure in Shanghai on November 30.

Jiang Zemin was born in Jiangsu on August 17, 1926. He was secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party from June 1989 through November 2002 and led the country as president from 1993 to 2003.

Jiang has not attended public events since 2019. Rumors about his failing health intensified after he abstained from celebrations to mark the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2021. He was also absent from the party’s 20th congress in October.

The ex-Chinese president was last seen in public on October 1, 2019, when he stood on a parade-reviewing stand to the left of incumbent Chinese leader and secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping as he attended the 70th anniversary celebrations of the foundation of China in Tiananmen Square.