The Chinese Communist Party’s official statement announced that Zou Jiahua, the late senior figure of the CCP and former Vice Premier, passed away in Beijing on Sunday (February 16) due to illness at the age of 99.
According to the official state media Xinhua News Agency’s report on Monday (17th), Zou Jiahua passed away in Beijing at 23:42 on the 16th. The authorities did not specify the cause of Zou Jiahua’s death.
Public records show that Zou Jiahua hails from Shanghai, and his father was the well-known writer Zou Taofen before the CCP came into power. Zou Jiahua had served as the Vice Director of the CCP National Defense Science and Industry Commission, Minister of Ordnance Industry, Director of the National Machinery Industry Committee, State Councilor and Minister of Machinery and Electronics Industry, State Councilor and Director of the State Planning Commission. In 1991, he was appointed as Vice Premier, and in October of the following year, he also became a member of the CCP Politburo. In March 1998, he moved to the position of Vice Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee until his retirement in March 2003.
Zou Jiahua’s wife was Ye Chu’ai, the eldest daughter of the CCP Marshal Ye Jianying. Ye Chu’ai passed away in Beijing on September 18 last year due to illness at the age of 96.
Zou Jiahua’s younger brother, the former Director of the CCP Meteorological Bureau Zou Jingmeng, was fatally stabbed in a mall parking lot in Beijing on February 22, 1999, at the age of 70. Authorities claimed that he was killed during a robbery by criminals. Eight days after the incident, the CCP announced that the culprit had been arrested. At that time, overseas newspapers speculated that it might be related to internal struggles within the CCP.
Renowned hydraulic expert Wang Weiluo in Germany wrote in the “Yi News” last year that Zou Jiahua had helped the CCP build the Three Gorges Project, which he called a “foolish monument” that would not be forgotten by history.
Wang Weiluo pointed out that Zou Jiahua played a significant role in the decision-making and construction of the Three Gorges Project. On August 22, 1990, Zou Jiahua was appointed as the Chairman of the State Council Three Gorges Project Review Committee, allowing officials and experts responsible for drafting the feasibility report of the Three Gorges Project to directly participate in the review process, turning it into a farcical game. This led to the flawed feasibility report of the Three Gorges Project passing easily. In early 1993, the State Council established the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee, with Li Peng serving as the Director and Zou Jiahua as the first Deputy Director, assisting Li Peng in formulating the “Three Gorges Project Immigration Regulations” that forced 1.13 million residents to relocate (in reality, over 1.4 million residents were relocated). Zou Jiahua presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of the Three Gorges Project in 1994 and the diversion of the Yangtze River for the project in 1997.
Records show that in 1998, Li Peng stepped down from the positions of Premier and Director of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee, while Zou Jiahua also stepped down from the positions of Vice Premier and Vice Director of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee.