Former Chinese president's son retires from top academy
Beijing (AFP) - The son of China's former President Jiang Zemin, Jiang Mianheng, has retired as head of the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"Comrade Jiang Mianheng, due to his age, will no longer serve as head of the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)," a report on the institution's website said.
Jiang is 63 and cadres at his level are supposed to retire at 60, according to internal Communist Party rules.
His father Jiang Zemin stepped down as general secretary of the Communist Party in 2002 to be succeeded by Hu Jintao, and as president a few months later, but only vacated his last official post as head of the military in 2004.
Despite his retirement, Jiang Zemin still wields considerable power behind the scenes and around half of China's most senior decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, are believed to be loyalists of his. Unusually, he has made a number of public appearances in recent weeks.
During his tenure, his sons were accused of using their names to get ahead, with Jiang Mianheng widely believed to have controlled telecom giant China Netcom -- now part of China Unicom -- and other companies, and Jiang Miankang reportedly a top army general.
Jiang Mianheng joined the CAS's Shanghai Institute of Metallurgy in 1993 after finishing a PhD in the United States. He later went on to become deputy president of the CAS before taking the less high-profile position as head of the Shanghai branch.
The CAS report said that he encouraged the academy to support ShanghaiTech University, a school cofounded by the city government that he also heads, in a speech at the meeting that announced his retirement. There was no mention of him stepping down as president of the school.
