Beijing’s Mikhail Gorbachev phobia | The Japan Times

CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA – There was a time when well-meaning, if not wishful-thinking, Westerners thought that “China’s Gorbachev” was the best praise they might pay a Chinese language chief who appeared like a reformer.

However when Zhu Rongji, the straight-talking mayor of Shanghai, visited the U.S. in July 1990, and a few Individuals referred to as him that, the longer term premier was not amused. “I’m not China’s Gorbachev,” Zhu reportedly snapped. “I’m China’s Zhu Rongji.”