BEIJING - Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who strongly promoted economic reforms under the leadership of President Jiang Zemin and helped the Asian country achieve a rapid growth, died of illness Wednesday, state-run media reported. He was 97.
Zhu, who served as premier between 1998 and 2003, pushed through drastic economic and state-sector reforms, secured annual economic growth of around 8 percent and played an active role in realizing China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001.
He implemented proactive fiscal policies to weather the Asian financial crisis that battered the region in the late 1990s. Former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, the mastermind of China's economic reforms, highly praised Zhu for his expertise in economic policies.
Zhu was mayor and chief of the ruling Communist Party in Shanghai before becoming vice premier and later premier of the country.
Born in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, Zhu graduated from Tsinghua University in 1951, where he studied electrical engineering, and worked at government agencies in charge of economic planning.
Between 1970 and 1975 during the Cultural Revolution, which plunged Chinese society into turmoil, Zhu was sent to rural areas to engage in farming.
He made an official visit to Japan in October 2000 and agreed with then Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to build future-oriented bilateral ties.
