Wu Bangguo, the former chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, died of an illness at the age of 84 in Beijing on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Wu had served as a member of the Political Bureau and a member of the Secretariat of the 14th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

He also served as a member of the Political Bureau of the 15th CPC Central Committee, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 16th and 17th central committees of the CPC, vice premier of the State Council, and chairman of the Standing Committee of the 10th and 11th NPCs.

Wu was born in July 1941 and hailed from Feidong in Anhui Province. He studied at Tsinghua University from 1960 to 1967 and joined the CPC in April 1964.