Zhu Rongji, Chinese premier who cajoled economy into modern era, dies at 97
He forced sweeping state-sector reforms and helped bring China into the World Trade Organization, a move that reshaped the economy and cost millions of jobs.
- Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji died of illness in Beijing on Wednesday at age 98, credited with steering China toward global economic power through bold, transformative reforms.
- Building on Deng Xiaoping's 1979 reforms, Zhu pushed China into the World Trade Organization and dismantled bloated state-owned enterprises, earning the nickname 'One-Chop Zhu' for streamlining bureaucracy.
- ASPI fellow Lizzi Lee noted critics described his approach as 'surgery without anesthesia,' overlooking human costs, though he was a leader of immense conviction who dared to break the mold.
- His policies propelled China to become a global economic power, though they caused mass layoffs and unintended consequences, leaving many Chinese to remember him with mixed feelings.
- History's verdict remains divided on the leader who dared to break the mold; he is survived by his wife, Madam Lao An, his son investment banker Yunlai, also known as Levin, and daughter Yanlai.
181 Articles
181 Articles
China's Ex-Premier Zhu Rongji, Who Led Beijing Into World Trade Body, Dies At 97
Zhu led efforts to secure WTO membership following marathon negotiations that began in the 1980s. That status would enshrine free trade as a national commitment, giving Zhu a tool to force local officials to stop protecting favored companies.
The Independent
The Independent (US)Zhu Rongji, Chinese premier who promoted ‘big reforms’, dies at 97
Zhu dragged back the Chinese economy from over-heating in the early 1990s, and then as premier pushed through reforms that shut or privatised many state-owned firms
Goodbye, Comrade Zhu Rongji
Zhu Rongji, born on October 23, 1928, died on August 12, 2026. He had been a prime minister, and a great modernizer of China’s financial system. Yet his legacy seems to have faded. Premier Zhu was the man who pushed for China to join the World Trade Organization. He wanted China to be fully integrated […] The post Goodbye, Comrade Zhu Rongji appeared first on Asia Times.
Anwar mourns Zhu Rongji, remembers ‘good friend’ who helped deepen Malaysia-China ties
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday expressed his condolences to the family of former Premier of the People’s Republic of China Zhu Rongji, who passed away at the age of 97.Anwar described Zhu as one of the great architects of China’s economic transformation and a good friend, saying his reforms had helped accelerate the country’s rise as an economic superpower.“China has lost one of the great architects of i…
Late former premier Zhu Rongji used economics to tighten China’s grip on Tibet
The late former premier of China Zhu Rongji wielded the economic hammer during China’s rapid economic rise in the 1990s and 2000s to increase Beijing’s influence over Tibet, an expert told Radio Free Asia shortly after Zhu’s death on Wednesday.Zhu, 98, died at 11:06 a.m. in Beijing of an unspecified illness, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. As premier alongside President Jiang Zemin from 1998 to 2003, Zhu had spearheaded China’s access…
China’s economic reformer Zhu Rongji dies at 97
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, a leading architect of the country’s economic rise, has died aged 97. Zhu’s signal accomplishment was steering China into the World Trade Organization in 2001, after laying the groundwork with a host of reforms: overhauling the tax system, commercializing state banks, and smashing the “iron ricebowl” of guaranteed employment by shuttering hundreds of loss-making state enterprises. Up to 30 million workers lost …
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