Bill Condon says leader established a standard of public leadership based on confronting difficult realities, building capable institutions, and acting with long-term purpose
The passing away of former premier Zhu Rongji recalls a defining era in China’s modern development: A period when economic reform was pursued with urgency, candor, and administrative resolve. It was also the era in which China built the institutional and fiscal foundations that made its subsequent growth, and integration into the global economy, sustainable.
I had the privilege of meeting Zhu at the Great Hall of the People in September 1998, when I accompanied Taoiseach Bertie Ahern during an Irish trade mission to China. Zhu had only recently become premier. The Asian financial crisis was unsettling the region, State-sector reform was gathering pace, and China was still negotiating entry into the World Trade Organization. Against that background, Zhu stood out for his willingness to look beyond the growth figures and tackle the harder problems beneath them.
I was again in Zhu’s presence at the Great Hall during celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1999. Then-president Jiang Zemin presided over the landmark National Day celebrations, with Zhu among the country’s senior leaders. The mood was one of commemoration, but also of confidence in the future. China was approaching a new century increasingly assured in its economic direction and engagement with the world.
Zhu had a distinctive presence. Known for a pragmatic and no-nonsense approach, Zhu combined technical training with an economic reformer’s instinct for identifying problems and improving how institutions worked.
That temperament was particularly valuable in the 1990s. As vice-premier and, concurrently, governor of the People’s Bank of China from 1993 to 1995, Zhu played a central role in curbing inflation, cooling an overheating economy, and strengthening fiscal and financial management. These were not glamorous tasks, but they were indispensable. Economic growth without monetary discipline, reliable tax revenues and effective financial oversight would have been unsustainable.
His belief in stronger institutions shaped much of what followed. As premier, Zhu led one of the most extensive restructurings of China’s State sector to that point. Zhu understood that China’s development required more efficient enterprises, improved public administration, a stable financial system, and a government capable of setting and enforcing clear rules. He supported markets, competition and foreign investment, while recognizing that a stronger market economy also required a more capable state.
This combination of vision and discipline was evident in Shanghai, where he served as mayor and Party secretary before moving to Beijing. Zhu was among the key figures behind the early development and opening-up of Pudong. Today, Pudong’s skyline and global commercial role have become a familiar image of China’s rise. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, its prospects were far from certain.
Pudong required investment, infrastructure, legal assurances, administrative coordination and the confidence of businesses prepared to make long-term commitments. Zhu helped turn a broad strategic objective into a practical program. Shanghai became more outward-looking, export-oriented and responsive to the needs of international business. Pudong’s success illustrated a principle he would later bring to national policy: progress depends on institutions as much as intentions.
As premier, Zhu led one of the most extensive restructurings of China’s State sector to that point. By the late 1990s, many were burdened by inefficiency, debt and business models ill-suited to a more competitive economy. As premier, Zhu led one of the most extensive restructurings of China’s State sector to that point. Enterprises were closed, merged, reorganized or encouraged to modernize. The reforms helped create space for more efficient private and foreign-invested firms and strengthened the basis for a more competitive industrial economy.
The restructuring process was demanding, but it was undertaken with a clear purpose: to put Chinese industry on a stronger, more sustainable footing. It encouraged enterprises to improve efficiency, modernize operations, and compete more effectively, while creating greater scope for private enterprise, foreign investment and new employment opportunities. The adjustment was not without difficulty for workers and communities, which is why Zhu also recognized the need for stronger social security, healthcare, housing, and employment systems. His approach reflected a long-term view that modernization required adjustment, but would lay the groundwork for broader prosperity and more resilient growth.
Zhu also understood that lasting economic renewal depended on knowledge, talent and institutional confidence. As the founding dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management from 1984 to 2001, he promoted an educational outlook that connected economics, management, and technology, while encouraging engagement with the best international ideas and practices.
He recognized that China could learn from global experience without losing confidence in its own path. In late 2000, he helped establish the school’s advisory board and became its founding honorary chairman, creating a channel for dialogue among Chinese policymakers and scholars, leading business figures and eminent academics from around the world. This commitment to education, professional management and constructive international exchange helped strengthen the intellectual and institutional foundations for China’s continuing innovation, entrepreneurial vitality and technological progress.
That outlook found its clearest expression in China’s accession to the WTO. This was among Zhu’s most consequential achievements. The negotiations were long, technically complex and politically sensitive, involving tariffs, market access, foreign investment, commercial regulation, and the readiness of Chinese enterprises to compete more fully in international markets.
Zhu understood that WTO membership would subject Chinese firms and institutions to sharper competition. But he also saw that it could accelerate domestic reform, improve business standards, bring investment and technology, and give China more secure access to global markets. His April 1999 meeting with then-United States president Bill Clinton in Washington marked a pivotal stage: The two sides acknowledged substantial progress, but key issues remained unresolved.
China joined the WTO in December 2001, while Zhu was premier. Its significance went well beyond trade. It helped create the framework through which China became more closely connected to global markets in the years that followed.
For Ireland, Ahern’s 1998 visit was significant because it helped lay the groundwork for a more substantial relationship with China. For a small, export-oriented economy like Ireland, building stable links with China was therefore not only useful but increasingly necessary. Zhu’s official visit to Ireland in 2001 helped to sustain that momentum.
China’s transformation cannot be attributed to a single individual. It has been the achievement of its people and the result of decades of reform and opening-up, and national development. Yet certain leaders give a certain period its character. Zhu was one of them. His legacy lies in what he was prepared to do: restore fiscal discipline, reform the State sector, encourage enterprise, welcome foreign expertise, advance Pudong’s development, and help secure China’s accession to the WTO.
Above all, he established a standard of public leadership based on confronting difficult realities, building capable institutions, and acting with long-term purpose. That standard remains an enduring example of leadership rooted in discipline, responsibility and a clear sense of national purpose.
The author is an international partner and member of the Global Advisory Board, MilleniumAssociates AG.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
