[1] Qian played a critical role in shaping China's foreign policy during CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin's administration, and was a key player handling the return to Chinese sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macau.

He was also instrumental in handling China's normalization of relations with the West in the difficult period after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Qian Qichen hailed from a prominent scholarly family from Waigang (外冈), Jiading, Jiangsu province (now in Shanghai).

[9] As Foreign Minister, Qian played a critical role in shaping China's foreign policy during CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin's administration,[3] and was a key player handling the return to Chinese sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macau.

[3] He was also instrumental in handling China's normalization of relations with the West in the difficult period after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989;[10] his meeting with then British Foreign Secretary John Major in July 1989 was the first such contact.

[11] In October 1989, Qian engaged in low-profile outreach when he attended the annual UN General Assembly in New York, seeking to reassure his listeners that China would proceed with reform.

His funeral and subsequent cremation at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery was attended by CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, former CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao, Premier Li Keqiang, former Premier Li Peng and other CCP Politburo Standing Committee members including Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli, and Chief Executive of Hong Kong Leung Chun-ying and Hong Kong and Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Wang Guangya.

Former CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin did not attend Qian's funeral ceremony, but sent a wreath.