Published: 5:35am, 30 Dec 2024Updated: 5:59am, 30 Dec 2024
Former US president Jimmy Carter, who established formal diplomatic relations with Beijing and welcomed China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to the White House, died on Sunday. He was 100 years old and had been in hospice care since February 2023.
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President from 1977 to 1981, Carter had faced a series of health challenges in recent years. In 2015, he was treated for a melanoma that had spread to his brain and liver and had further brain surgery in 2019 after repeated falls.
The Carter Centre said that following a few short hospital stays Carter decided to receive hospice care at home, opting out of further medical intervention.
The one-term American leader was remembered for his effort to normalise US-China relations during his presidency.
He built on rounds of diplomatic efforts initiated by his predecessor Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972, a trip that ended a 25-year freeze in relations between the two governments.
In December 1978, Carter announced that diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China had been established, ceasing official recognition of the Republic of China government in Taipei.
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The announcement was followed the next month by Deng’s visit to the US, making him the most senior PRC official at the time to be welcomed at the White House.