HONG KONG — Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who led the country through a decade of explosive economic growth, died Wednesday in Shanghai, according to Xinhua, China’s state news agency. He was 96.

The cause was leukemia and multiple organ failure, the ruling Communist Party said in an announcement carried by Xinhua.

Jiang was chosen to lead China after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, serving as president from 1993 to 2003.

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