China tributes to Zhu Rongji and Jiang Zemin cast light on past and future

PoliticsXi attends funeral for late premier a day after speaking at former president's centenaryChina's then-President Jiang Zemin, right, and then-Premier Zhu Rongji vote to endorse Jiang's political theory at the close of the Communist Party's Congress in November 2002. © ReutersKENJI KAWASEAugust 18, 2026 17:48 JSTTOKYO -- China on Tuesday bid farewell to former Premier Zhu Rongji, who died last week at 97, flying flags at half-staff ahead of his cremation in Beijing. The funeral came the day after President Xi Jinping and the country's top officials paid tribute to another late leader, former President Jiang Zemin, who died in 2022 but would have turned 100 on Monday.