Qian, 90, enhanced foreign relations

Former vice-premier Qian Qichen, who was China's foreign minister for a decade, died on Tuesday night in Beijing, according to a statement from the central authority released on Wednesday. He was 90.

Qian was born in 1928 in Tianjin. In 1942, he joined the Communist Party of China as a middle school student in Shanghai.

After studying in the former Soviet Union, he began his diplomatic career by working in the Chinese embassy in Moscow in 1955.