Zhu Rongji, China market reformer, dies at 97

Zhu Rongji, the former Chinese premier associated with major market reforms and China's entry into the World Trade Organization, has died at the age of 97.

Chinese state media said Zhu died of illness in Beijing at 11:06 a.m. on Wednesday, August 12, after medical treatment failed to save him. An obituary jointly issued by China's top political bodies and carried by Xinhua called his death “a major loss for the Party and the country.”

Zhu became premier in 1998 after earlier serving as mayor of Shanghai and as vice premier under then-leader Jiang Zemin. He built a reputation as a forceful supporter of market reform.

His best-known policies included privatising unprofitable state-owned enterprises, privatising urban housing and promoting home ownership. The state-owned enterprise reforms cut 30 million jobs over five years, while the housing changes helped drive a real estate and construction boom.

Zhu also led negotiations for China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, a step presented in the source material as consolidating China's transformation into a major global marketplace.

Born in Changsha in 1928, Zhu studied electrical engineering at Tsinghua University and joined the Communist Party in 1949. He worked as an economic planner and engineer but was purged twice during the early decades of the People's Republic, including during the Hundred Flowers Campaign and the Cultural Revolution, before being rehabilitated after Mao Zedong's death.

As mayor of Shanghai from 1988, he argued for state-owned enterprises to be allowed to “swim by themselves in the markets.” As vice premier, he was seen as largely responsible for China's “soft landing” after rapid growth in the 1990s.

Zhu was also known for speaking against corruption. During his tenure, a former vice governor of Jiangxi province was executed for taking bribes, the highest-ranking official to be put to death for such charges in five decades.

In retirement, Zhu published books of speeches on economic reform and was listed as one of China's top philanthropists. The Wall Street Journal reported that he later clashed with the current leadership over Xi Jinping's consolidation of power and statist approach in 2022.

Zhu is survived by his wife, Lao An, and two children.