BEIJING - Wu Xueqian, a former vice-premier and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, died of an illness on Friday at 9:38 a.m.
Wu, who was 87, was "a distinguished member of the CPC, a time-tested and faithful Communist fighter, a proletarian revolutionary and an outstanding leader in China's diplomatic field", the official obituary said.
Wu was a vice chairman of the Eighth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
According to the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wu was a native of Shanghai.
He was China's foreign minister from November 1982 to April 1988.