Sawt Falasteen - Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji dies aged 97

An obituary jointly issued by China's top political bodies said he lived a "life of glory", according to the state news agency Xinhua.

Zhu passed away from illness in Beijing late in the morning "after medical treatment failed to save him", it said.

"The life of comrade Zhu Rongji was a life of revolution, a life of struggle, a life of glory," Xinhua quoted the obituary as saying.

"It was a life dedicated wholeheartedly to serving the people, one given to the communist cause. His passing is a major loss for the Party and the country."

Zhu became premier in 1998, and swiftly lived up to his reputation as a hard-hitting free marketeer.

Among his best known reforms were a broad programme to privatise unprofitable state-owned enterprises, the privatisation of urban housing and the promotion of home ownership.

Those reforms sparked a boom in real estate and construction, which would soar to become a quarter of China's economy before a crippling debt crisis struck in 2020.

His leadership was credited with helping China avoid the worst of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, bucking a global trend.

And he led negotiations for China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 -- a move seen as consolidating the country's transformation from an isolated economy under Mao Zedong to the marketplace of the world.

- 'Outstanding leader' -

Zhu was "an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China, a long-tested and loyal communist fighter... (and) an outstanding leader of the Party and the state" his obituary said.

But Zhu's brand of market reformism, which lifted millions out of poverty but unleashed inequality, fell out of vogue with the ascent of Xi Jinping in 2012.

Xi has condemned runaway capitalism and sought to move China onto a more balanced development path, as well as cracking down on excessive displays of wealth and private firms seen as monopolistic.

"We must turn our grief into strength, learn from (Zhu's) revolutionary spirit, noble character and fine conduct, and rally even more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core," Zhu's obituary read.

The news of his passing quickly shot to top trending on social media platform Weibo, with the topic gaining over a hundred million views just over an hour after the death was announced.

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST