Premier Zhu Rongji held what could be his last news conference as China’s government chief Friday, defending his record against accusations that he has generally failed to live up to expectations.
Expressing pride in his work and telling 500 reporters that his conscience is clear, Zhu used the occasion as a platform to spar with the opponents inside and outside the government who have sniped at the 74-year-old veteran Communist Party leader since he took office four years ago.
“I think this government has made good its promise,” he said after the closing of the annual two-week session of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament. “We have a clear conscience, but still there is big room for improvement and we must continue to work hard.”
Zhu came to power amid great expectations, but his adversaries in the party and government bureaucracy and outside analysts have charged that he reached few of the goals he set out for himself. Responding to reporters’ questions Friday, he answered the complaints point by point.
Zhu said he has “basically fulfilled” his objective of reforming China’s lumbering state-owned sector despite strong indications–a flurry of recent strikes and other bad economic news–that the job has barely begun. He said his plan to streamline government bureaucracy is a success as well, despite signs that local governments are bigger than ever.
He said his plan to clean up banks is headed for success, even though independent analysts say bad loans held by state-run banks threaten a collapse.
Zhu said his “biggest headache” involved his desire to increase farmers’ incomes.
Zhu did have his successes. He reined in the inflationary spiral of the early 1990s, reorganized the banking system and launched tax reforms that have raised budget revenues as a share of GDP from 10 to 16 percent. He also presided over a 40 percent reduction in the workforces of state enterprises and pushed thousands of those enterprises onto stock markets. He chased the military out of the economy and broke up energy and telecom monopolies.
Perhaps most significant, he secured China’s entry into the World Trade Organization and appears to have set the stage for his handpicked successor, Deputy Premier Wen Jibao, to take over.
“We haven’t gone backward, but we haven’t moved much forward either,” said Mao Yushi, an economist who runs the Unirule consulting firm.
