CHINESE VICE-PREMIER ZHU RONGJI

Caricature shows ChinaÕs Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji. Economic tsar Zhu is widely tipped by analysts to succeed Premier Li Peng, who must step down in March 1998 after serving two five-year terms.  

69-year-old Zhu, noted for his unsmiling visage, has a reputation for outspokenness.

Hand-picked in the early 1990s by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to take charge of the economy, Zhu moved to assert his control over runaway inflation in 1993 when he fired the head of the central bank and took over the job himself.

The next year he cracked the whip on provincial bankers by raising interest rates. The move was aimed at ending wanton lending which had puffed up a precarious stock market bubble and contributed to soaring inflation, but drew heavy fire from local governments.

He continued to tread on local leadersÕ toes by demanding they fork out taxes to the central government.

Analysts said many local officials would reluctantly welcome ZhuÕs rise because of doubts about the policies of other candidates, who include Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo, the favourite of party boss Jiang Zemin
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