BEIJING - When the feared but respected Zhu Rongji became China’s premier in March 1998, he declared at his maiden news conference that he would prepare 100 coffins as part of a renewed crackdown on corruption – 99 for unscrupulous officials and one for himself in the event that he was vindictively assassinated.

There was never a dull moment whenever Mr Zhu, who was also the country’s economic czar, met the press over the next five years. In March 2000, the no-nonsense prime minister warned Taiwanese voters ahead of a closely contested presidential election not to vote for an unspecified pro-independence candidate. But he stopped short of threatening to invade the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims as its own.