Former Chinese defence minister and military leader Liang Guanglie dies aged 83
As well as conducting negotiations with Obama administration and military leadership, Liang wrote about campaigns around Taiwan
An official obituary published by state news agency Xinhua said Liang died from an unnamed illness in Beijing early on Tuesday morning.
The report described Liang as an “outstanding leader in China’s national defence construction and military work of the army”.
Liang, who was from Sichuan province in southwestern China, joined the army in 1958 when he was 18 and rose through the ranks to become defence minister and state councillor in 2008 until he retired in 2013.
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He started as a soldier in the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force and progressed to become deputy head of the operational department at Wuhan Military Headquarters in 1971.
Liang fought in the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979 and was a deputy division leader of the 20th Group Army ground forces during the conflict. After the war, Liang moved to the 58th division of the 20th Army and became its army commander in 1985 and later chief of staff of the Beijing Military Region.
