A reminder of an alternative

In the fascinating and not too transparent history of modern China, Zhu Rongji, who died this week at the age of 97, played a central role and along with several others in some ways represented an alternative approach to the current direction of China’s system and its relationship with the rest of the world. That is not to say that he would have advocated a change to the most fundamental element—the position of the party. He would not. But his impact in terms of the shift of China from the Mao era and into the 21st Century, was crucial.

He was number two in Shanghai, under Jiang Zemin, during the troubles in the late 1980s and he became the premier of China on the retirement of Li Peng in 1998 and took control of the economy. Under his leadership, China joined WTO and underwent dramatic changes in both the economy and society. He was a reformist and oversaw a remaking of the State-owned sector, which resulted in much corruption and millions of workers being thrown out of work. But it was, in a way, positive corruption, in that it energized change, and the high-speed development of the economy in that era also meant that were many other jobs for the newly unemployed as construction and factory workers etc. The corruption was there because the economic boom created vast new flows of money while transparency and accountability remained unchanged, but the basic idea that Zhu and his boss Jiang promoted in the 1990s and into the early years of the 21st century was that China could be integrated into the world and could embrace a new middle class without fundamentally threatening the position of the party. This is and remains the core question, and the other side took the view after a deep analysis of the fall of the Soviet Communist Party that this position was incorrect, that it would ultimately threaten the system. They wouldn’t countenance it. Who was right? History one day will decide.

It will be interesting to see how the leadership addresses the question of remembrance and the conclusions that are reached and reflected on in the state media in terms of the role that Mr. Zhu played, and by extension the approach he took. Regardless, his revolutionary credentials were impeccable. He was born in Hunan, the home of Mao, and he joined the party in 1949. He had the reputation of being a leader beyond reproach, to put it politely, and he is said to have declared on taking office: “I have prepared 100 coffins—99 for corrupt officials, and one for myself.” There was a story in the early 2000s during the construction of the Three Gorges Dam that he called together the bosses of all the construction companies involved and told them that if the dam failed, they would all be executed. That kind of approach really gets people’s attention.

To sum up the contributions in life of somebody like Mr. Zhu in the context of the system is really difficult. But his contribution to making China what it is today in terms of all of the positives of economic dynamism, the improvement in the living standards of such a huge proportion of humanity and efforts to integrate China into the world, he stands amongst one of the great Chinese leaders of the modern age.

RIP and have a great weekend.