China mourns death of Indonesian former president Wahid

China on Thursday mourned the passing away of Indonesian former president Abdurrahman Wahid, who died of disease Wednesday evening at the age of 69.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement that the Chinese government and people mourned the death of Wahid, and Chinese President Hu Jintao had sent a message of condolences to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyoho.

"Mr. Wahid made important contributions to the development of the Sino-Indonesian relations," said Jiang in the statement.

Wahid served as the Indonesian president from October 1999 to July 2001. In January 2001, Wahid made the announcement that Chinese New Year was to become an optional holiday, and he followed this up in February by lifting the ban on the display of Chinese characters and the importations of Chinese publication.
(Xinhua/www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-31 18:08:20/Editor: Liu)