Zhu Rongji began his tenure as China?s prime minister with a promise. During his now-famous March 1998 press conference at the National People?s Congress, the bold and freewheeling Zhu pledged that within three years he would turn around China?s ailing state-owned enterprises, long the nemesis of China?s economic opening. Now, as the prime minister prepares to step down, his critics are charging he has failed to deliver.
The behemoths of Chinese industry continue to be an enormous drag on the economy. And now that China has entered the World Trade Organization, many fear that China?s state-owned companies, especially those most sheltered from needed reforms, will collapse under the pressure of foreign competition.
Read more
