Former NPC head Wan Li dies

15-07-2015

Wan Li, a Communist Party leader known for his reform policies, died on Wednesday at the age of 99, state media said.

The state-run digital publication The Paper, citing Wang's son, said he died in Beijing. State broadcaster CCTV also reported Wan's death.

Wan was the chairman of the National People's Congress in 1989 when students gathered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square for pro-democracy demonstrations. Wan's stance on the protests was never made clear, though he never openly opposed the bloody military crackdown that ended them.

Wan, however, was a close ally of the ruling Communist Party's secretary general at the time, Zhao Ziyang, who was ousted for his support of the students and was under house arrest until his death in 2005.

http://rthk.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20150715/news_20150715_56_1116269.htm