Jimmy Carter, who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, died on Sunday at the age of 100, according to a statement issued by the Carter Center.
The center announced that the former U.S. president passed away at his home in Plains in the southern U.S. state of Georgia.
During Carter's presidency, the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America was issued, which saw the two countries officially establish diplomatic relations on Jan. 1, 1979.
Carter signed the Panama Canal Treaties in 1977 which restored Panama's full jurisdiction over the Panama Canal Zone starting from 2000 and guaranteed its neutrality.
He also witnessed the inking of the Camp David Accords, which were signed by then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978.
Carter and his wife later established the Carter Center, a non-governmental organization, while the former president would go on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his efforts in undertaking peace negotiations, campaigning for human rights, and working for social welfare.
Carter was born on Oct. 1, 1924, in the southeastern U.S. state of Georgia. He was the longest-lived former president of the U.S., outliving his two successors Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
After leaving office in 1981, Carter made several visits to China, with his commitment to fostering positive relations continuing well beyond the term of his presidency.
On December 13, 2012, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with the former U.S. president at Zhongnanhai in Beijing.
During this meeting, Xi emphasized both China and the U.S. should be innovative and make efforts to accumulate "positive energy" to build a China-U.S. cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit.
In September 2014, Carter traveled to the Chinese cities of Beijing, Qingdao, Xi'an and Shanghai to celebrate 35 years of normalized relations between the U.S. and China.
In 2019, when asked about his greatest legacies as president, Carter said he considered the normalization of diplomatic relations with China as "an especially historic achievement."
"In my opinion, I did the best I could when I was president and I'll let history judge the result of what I did," Carter said in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) during a 2014 visit to China.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter dies at 100
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter dies at 100
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter dies at 100
