Chinese state media is reporting that former Premier Zhu Rongji has died at the age of 98.
Zhu was one of China's most influential economic reformers, helping drive the country's rapid economic growth in the 1990s and leading China into the World Trade Organization.
He served as premier from 1998 to 2003 and pushed major reforms of state-owned companies, seeking to make them more efficient and profitable.
Known for his sharp tongue and impatience with bureaucracy, Zhu frequently clashed with Communist Party conservatives and state industry leaders over his reform agenda.
Zhu died of illness in Beijing at around 11 AM today.
He had earlier been sent to rural exile and forced to perform manual labor after praising economic reforms in other communist countries.
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