Speculation swirled throughout the day Wednesday that the 84-year-old leader had passed away.
On Thursday, the Xinhua news agency denied those reports, citing "authoritative sources."
"Recent reports of some overseas media organizations about Jiang Zemin's death from illness are pure rumor," the news agency said.
During his 13 years as general secretary of the Communist Party and nearly 10 years as president, Jiang mixed economic freedom and political control to move forward the so-called 'market socialism' introduced by his predecessor Deng Xiaoping.
Under his leadership, China began to emerge as the world's fastest growing major economy.
Jiang also saw the peaceful handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China and that of Macau from Portugal while repeatedly threatening to use military power against Taiwan if it declares independence.
SOURCE: CNN
