When he passed away at age 96 last Nov. 30, former president Jiang Zemin was acclaimed by the Communist Party of China in a published letter to its members: “(His) death is an incalculable loss to our Party and our military and our people of all ethnic groups.”
Jiang served as president of China from 1993 to 2003. He was previously mayor of Shanghai and head of its party committee when he was tapped to replace Zhao Ziyang in the aftermath of the violent demonstrations at Tiananmen Square.
He is credited with having steered China through the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the same year that Hong Kong, the former British colony, was handed over to his country. He also witnessed China’s entry to the World Trade Organization in 2001 and its successful bid to host the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.
He enunciated three governance principles that were written into the Communist Party constitution in 2002: economic expansion, cultural development and political consensus. He brought his country closer to the United States by meeting with Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
An outpouring of emotional tributes has been observed in Weibo, China’s biggest social media platform, as typified by these messages: “The end of an era, and it was a good time!” And “An era of unity and struggle for development! A leader who carries on the past and ushers in the future, leading us to a new era.”
He was the first president of China to have visited the Philippines after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1975. He made a state visit to the country in Nov. 26-28,1996 after participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Subic.
Among the memorable moments of his Philippine visit were his duets with then President Fidel V. Ramos: first, at the state dinner for APEC leaders in Malacañang and at the BRP Ang Pangulo while it cruised in Manila Bay.
On the diplomatic front, the two presidents “agreed to establish a cooperative relationship based on good-neighborliness and mutual trust towards the 21st century, and reached important consensus and understanding of ‘shelving disputes and going in for joint development’ on the issue of South China Sea.”
In 2000, the “Joint Statement Between China and the Philippines on the Framework of Bilateral Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century,” which confirmed that the two sides will establish a “long-term and stable relationship on the basis of good neighborliness, cooperation, mutual trust and benefit,” was enunciated.
According to the Yale Law Journal: “Good neighborliness is a general principle of international law with particular importance for the field of international environmental law.” The principle “obligates states to try to reconcile their interests with the interests of neighboring states.”
Reaffirming the spirit of amity and goodwill between the Philippines and China is an appropriate way of honoring the memory of the late President Jiang Zemin.