Zhu Rongji, the former Chinese premier who led the country into the World Trade Organization and drove its transformation into a market economy, died on Wednesday aged 97 following an illness.
Zhu served as premier from 1998 to 2003. He was the primary architect of China's shift from an isolated, rigidly planned economy to a market-driven one. He engineered an economic “soft landing,” steered the nation through the Asian Financial Crisis, and secured China's entry into the WTO in 2001. That accession paved the way for an export boom that fueled China's rise to become the world's second-biggest economy.
Domestically, he oversaw reforms that closed hundreds of loss-making state enterprises and laid off some 30 million workers. Earlier, he had been Shanghai's mayor. His WTO push began with marathon negotiations in the 1980s. The trade body membership enshrined free trade as a national commitment, giving Zhu a tool to force local officials to stop protecting favored companies. He was known for his sharp intellect and no-nonsense demeanour.