Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has expressed condolences on the passing of Jiang Zemin, the former president of the People’s Republic of China.

Deuba took to twitter to extend his condolence saying that the late president was a great friend and well wisher of Nepal.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing away of former president of the People’s Republic of China Mr. Jiang Zemin. He was a great friend and well wisher of Nepal,” read the tweet. “I would like to express my deepest condolences to the Government and the people of China and the bereaved family members.”

Jiang Zemin (1926-2022) was the President of China from 1993-2003 and visited Nepal in 1996. He also met several Nepali leaders including late king Birendra Shah in 2001 in Boao Forum for Asia, Hainan. In July 2022, Jiang met with former king Gyanendra Shah in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Jiang died on Wednesday at the age of 96 of leukemia and multiple organ failure, according to the Chinese state media.

Jiang was plucked from obscurity to head China’s ruling Communist Party after the bloody Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989, but broke the country out of its subsequent diplomatic isolation, mending fences with the United States and overseeing an unprecedented economic boom.