Symbolic imageZhu Rongji, architect of China's market overhaul, dies
Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji died of illness in Beijing on Wednesday, aged 97 by most accounts. He drove the overhaul of China's state sector and its entry into the World Trade Organisation.
Xinhua announced the death of the man the media called China's economic tsar; the Global Times gave the time as 11:06 a.m. and his age as 98. Named vice-premier in 1991 after serving as Shanghai's mayor, he took personal charge of central banking, financial regulation, agricultural policy and a state sector he considered bloated and corrupt, the Wall Street Journal writes. As vice-premier and then premier until 2003, he revamped the tax system, fought corruption and restructured state firms at the cost of widespread job losses, the South China Morning Post reports. At a press conference in 1998 he pledged to forge ahead "unswervingly", whether what lay ahead was "a minefield or a deep abyss".
Tributes from Hong Kong
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said late on Wednesday he was profoundly saddened, thanking Zhu for backing the city's development and the "one country, two systems" principle. Lee credited him with helping Hong Kong hold its place as an international financial centre through the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
A changed country
The Economist headlined that his death is a reminder of how much has changed in China, while The Hindu noted that he also pushed ties with India.
Other opinions
The Global Times ran only a short death notice without any assessment of the reforms, while American, British and Hong Kong outlets present Zhu as the architect of China's market turn.