Ismail Amat, Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), passed away due to illness at the age of 84 in Beijing on October 16.

A statement from the central authority extolled Ismail Amat as an exemplary member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a loyal communist soldier, an outstanding leader in the ethnic work of the Party and the state and a distinguished son of the Uygur people.

Born in Cele County of Khotan in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 1935, Ismail Amat started his political career in 1956. He was Party secretary and chairman of the Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from 1979 to 1985 and minister and Party secretary of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission from 1986 to 1998. Ismail Amat was vice chairperson of the Seventh National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, from 1988 to 1993. He was a state councilor from 1993 to 2003 and vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the 10th NPC from 2003 to 2008.