China lowers flags, tightens security for former premier Zhu Rongji's funeral

China lowered national flags at government headquarters to mourn former Premier Zhu Rongji, who died last week at the age of 97. Security was tightened across the city, particularly around Tiananmen Square, which lies along the route to the Babaoshan crematorium where top leaders are typically cremated.

Zhu served as China's vice premier from 1991 to 1998 and premier from 1998 to 2003. According to Free Malaysia Today, he helped drive China's economic overhaul in the 1990s, curbing inflation, tightening tax and banking systems, and pushing through a state-sector shake-up that cost millions of jobs at unprofitable state firms. His reforms also helped clear the way for China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001.

Zhu was known for his independent thinking, once telling officials in Shanghai in 1988, "My defining trait - my guiding principle - is independent thinking. I believe I should say what I truly think." He had previously had his party membership revoked in the late 1950s for an incautious speech, and it was not restored for roughly two decades. Zhu's death prompted widespread mourning on Chinese social media.

Brief written by urgent.news from Channel News Asia, Free Malaysia Today, New Straits Times — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.