Zhu Rongji's job description when he is appointed premier during China's annual legislative session, which begins Thursday, may sound like cruel and unusual punishment, but Zhu's résumé might just be equal to the challenge. Credited with everything from taming inflation in three years to being the driving force behind Shanghai's economic miracle, Zhu is widely admired in the West as a whip-cracking manager open to innovation, and as a man of his word.
The fact that he has risen to the countrys No. 3 leadership position without a base among either old-guard purists or the liberal reformers wrestling for control of China's Communist party makes him an even more attractive candidate: Should he fail, it's easier for his superiors to - so to speak - disavow all knowledge of his actions.