Zhu Rongji has a reputation as "a man that
likes to get things done"
By Duncan Hewitt
Laughter may not be a phenomenon readily associated
with Chinese leaders, but Zhu Rongji has proved himself adept at charming
international audiences with his blunt, often self-deprecating style.
At the World Bank/IMF conference in Hong Kong he had business and economic
leaders eating out of his hand. "Please don’t come too quickly" he
warned as he welcomed them to open banks in China. "If you come too quickly
and if you can’t make any money because of that, please don’t complain to
me."
One of the reasons foreign investors like Zhu Rongji is that he has a reputation
for getting things done. "He personally follows up on all his policies and
directives," said Anne Yang, who as head of the US China Business Council
in Beijing, has observed him in action.
"He uses a meritocracy, he puts in place people who are capable and also
respond. And also he’s willing to fire people, which is pretty unusual in
China. And so people do respond when Zhu Rongji wants something."
Zhu Rongji’s determination may stem from his experiences as a victim of Maoist
political purges in the 1950s and 1960s. Early promise saw him given a job in
the state planning commission fresh from university, where he studied electrical
engineering. His pragmatic and forthright approach brought him two separate
spells of re-education in the countryside.
In the 1980s, Zhu Rongji bounced back, rising rapidly through a string of
economic posts. In 1989, China’s year of political unrest, he had become mayor
of Shanghai. As popular protests that year spread from Beijing to Shanghai, Zhu
Rongji’s record as an opponent of corruption helped him retain significant
public sympathy, despite the execution of several protesters who derailed and
burnt a train.
His public pledge not to call in the army to disperse demonstrations was widely
felt to have defused a major crisis in the city. Soon, with his former Shanghai
boss Jiang Zemin, now party leader, Zhu Rongji became deputy prime minister.
According to Professor Song Guoqing of Beijing University, his success in taming
runaway inflation while maintaining economic growth proved his qualifications
for the top job.
"In China, especially in the reform process, different people have
different opinions. So there needs to be someone who has a hard character, who
can do things quickly. Before becoming prime minister Mr Zhu showed he was a man
who could get things done. As PM he faces a whole new set of challenges.
At a time when China needs to create jobs to absorb millions of unemployed, the
economy is up against an increasingly saturated consumer market, with falling
spending and prices. The challenge for Zhu Rongji is to achieve the same success
in tackling a flagging economy as he demonstrated in cooling the overheating of
the early 1990s.
Zhu Rongji’s supporters say e has no political ambitions beyond his five-year
term, and will therefore be willing to take tough decisions like last year’s
plan to slash China’s bloated bureaucracy. Yet if he is to succeed, and
maintain social and economic stability, Mr Zhu will need a full repertoire of
political skills as well as a deep reserve of political will
Unauthorized Site:
This site and its contents are not affiliated, connected,
associated with or authorized by the individual, family,
friends, or trademarked entities utilizing any part or
the subject's entire name. Any official or affiliated
sites that are related to this subject will be hyper
linked below upon submission
and Evisum, Inc. review.
Please join us in our mission to incorporate The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America discovery-based curriculum into the classroom of every primary and secondary school in the United States of America by July 2, 2026, the nation’s 250th birthday. , the United States of America: We The
People. Click Here
