Ex-Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, architect of growth, dies of illness at 98

Ex-Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who drove economic reforms and led China into the WTO, dies at 97 1 of 4 | Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji speaks during a news conference in Beijing, Wednesday, March 15, 2000. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File) 2 of 4 | Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji greets journalists at the start of a press conference in Beijing, Wednesday March 15, 2000. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File) 3 of 4 | Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji stands during a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender during World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) 4 of 4 | Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, center, listens to a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the opening session of China’s 19th Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) 1 of 4 | Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji speaks during a news conference in Beijing, Wednesday, March 15, 2000. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File) 1 of 4 Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji speaks during a news conference in Beijing, Wednesday, March 15, 2000. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 2 of 4 | Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji greets journalists at the start of a press conference in Beijing, Wednesday March 15, 2000. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File) 2 of 4 Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji greets journalists at the start of a press conference in Beijing, Wednesday March 15, 2000. (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 3 of 4 | Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji stands during a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender during World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) 3 of 4 Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji stands during a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender during World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 4 of 4 | Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, center, listens to a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the opening session of China’s 19th Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) 4 of 4 Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, center, listens to a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the opening session of China’s 19th Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] Beijing (AP) — Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, the impatient, sharp-tongued reformer who helped ignite China’s explosive economic boom by forcing wrenching change on state industry in the 1990s and leading the country into the World Trade Organization, has died of illness, state media reported Wednesday. He was 97.Zhu died in Beijing at around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, the official news agency Xinhua reported. Once sent into rural exile to do manual labor for praising reforms in other communist countries, Zhu pushed through a dizzying array of changes as premier, China’s top economic post, from 1998 to 2003 under former President Jiang Zemin.Zhu clashed with Communist Party conservatives and state industry bosses as he pushed state-owned companies to become efficient and profitable. That cost millions of layoffs, but helped propel China to overtake Japan as the second-largest economy behind the United States in 2010.Building on former leader Deng Xiaoping’s 1979 reforms, Zhu is credited with supplying the resourcefulness and tenacity to push through history-making changes such as China’s WTO membership, which helped to transform China into the world’s biggest exporter.Those changes helped to keep economic growth above 8% a year from 2000 to 2010, peaking at 14.2% in 2007. A spiky personality who fought corruption and conservativesNamed premier in 1998 at age 69, Zhu became a popular figure by criticizing official bungling and graft and accepting blame when the government fell short. His demanding style earned him the nicknames Boss and Zhu Fengzi, or Madman Zhu.“I have prepared 100 coffins here — 99 for corrupt officials and one for myself,” Zhu said in 1998, according to the party newspaper People’s Daily.