Monday, January 17 2005 13:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: Former deposed Chinese Communist Party chief, Zhao Ziyang died of illness in a local hospital in Beijing today (Jan 17, 2005), the State media reported. He was 85.

"Comrade Zhao had long suffered from multiple diseases affecting his respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and had been hospitalised for medical treatment several times," the official Xinhua news agency reported in a brief report.

Zhao's condition worsened recently, and he passed away today after failing to respond to all emergency treatment, it said.

Zhao had been place under house arrest for opposing Chinese Army crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.

Zhao had been confined to his courtyard home in the Chinese capital for over 15 years, but current leaders remain nervous about the residual influence of modern China's icon of reform, fearing his death could trigger widespread social unrest.

Zhao was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, when he tearfully pleaded with student protesters to leave Tiananmen Square, close to the Chinese parliament building. The then Chinese Government declared martial law the next day and the People's Liberation Army crushed the pro-democracy movement with tanks and other heavy weapons on June 3-4, causing many casualties.

The Chinese Government yesterday (Jan 16, 2005) said that the physical health of Zhao, has become "stable" after treatment.