By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 20, 1998; Page A27

BEIJING, March 19—China's new premier, Zhu Rongji, pledged today to fend off the Asian financial virus and keep economic growth at 8 percent, while asserting his support for the handling of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

But while Zhu, 69, did not stray from the usual government positions during his first press conference as premier, he projected a relaxed, personal style, bantering with foreign and domestic journalists during a live television broadcast and fielding questions on everything from economic reform and slothful civil servants to the Tiananmen Square massacre and his personal concern about the future.

His 90-minute performance riveted Chinese audiences, which have endured countless dull press conference rituals that normally feature pre-screened questions and the reading of prepackaged answers.

"I'm afraid I will let the people down," Zhu said. "But no matter what is awaiting me -- whether it be land mines or an abyss -- I will blaze my trail. I have no hesitations or misgivings."

Confidence and sophistication, not anxiety or closed-mindedness, is what Zhu radiated. He praised a Time magazine photograph of himself and lamented an unflattering one in Newsweek, but conceded that the latter was the more accurate. "I can't really blame Newsweek because in fact I am rather ugly," he joked. Later, spotting the attractive anchorwoman for a Hong Kong-based satellite television channel partly owned by media magnate Rupert Murdoch, Zhu told the assembled media, "I really enjoy watching her show."

If the new premier is going to blaze new trails, for now they seem to be mostly economic ones. Zhu, who is also the number-three person in the Communist Party, was most cautious in answering political questions.

He was asked how his own outlook was shaped by experiences in labor camps after being labeled a "rightist" in a 1958 campaign against intellectuals who had criticized the Communist Party. Zhu replied, "I learned deeply from it. It was not a happy experience. I do not want to talk about it."

He said the Communist Party was "of one mind" about the "political disturbances" in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The massacre there of hundreds of student-led democracy demonstrators by Chinese troops acting on Communist Party orders remains in the minds of many Americans an important obstacle to better Chinese-U.S. relations. Zhu said the Communist Party had "drawn conclusions" about the incident, and that "those conclusions will not be changed."

His comments today appeared to shut a door for many Chinese who hoped that Zhu, whose party membership was stripped in 1958 and restored in the late 1970s, might prod the party to reverse its verdict on the 1989 uprising and rehabilitate many damaged careers. Unlike his predecessor Li Peng, who issued the martial law order in May 1989, Zhu was based in Shanghai and he managed to persuade most demonstrating students to leave Shanghai's main square.

Asked whether the government will extend village-level elections now held so that all Chinese adults could vote for the president and premier, Zhu did not echo other leaders' assertions that China already has democracy or that Asian values are different. But neither did he suggest that any political reform is imminent.

"As for democratic elections in government organs, including the premiership and the presidency, this is a problem for reform of the political system," he said. "It must take place according to legal procedures. I think more research on this question is necessary. . . . It is difficult for me to predict when such elections could take place."

On economic issues, he displayed stronger views. He said he will end the system in which state-owned companies and ministries provide free or extremely cheap housing to employees. "We will stop all the allocation of welfare housing and all housing will be commercialized," he said.

He also said he will launch a health-reform program during the second half of this year and overhaul the grain-distribution system for more efficient pricing. And he restated his determination to repair the ailing commercial banks and stop the financial hemorrhaging at state-owned enterprises within three years, a timetable many analysts consider optimistic.

Zhu displayed his sterner side in warning that charges and fees at local levels exceed an acceptable tax burden on Chinese citizens and have prompted "a lot of complaints." He said, "This policy must be reversed."

Zhu said his economic reform plans will not be altered by the financial crisis sweeping across Asia. He promised to stimulate domestic demand to keep growth at 8 percent while preventing inflation from rising above 3 percent.

The Chinese premier also reaffirmed his confidence in Hong Kong's economy, which has come under heavy economic pressure since its stock market plunged in October and neighboring countries fell into financial turmoil. If Hong Kong ever needs and requests Beijing's help, Zhu said, "China would spare no expense to maintain the stability of Hong Kong and protect the Hong Kong dollar's peg to the U.S. dollar."

Zhu's press conference marked the end of the 15-day session of China's National People's Congress, a body of representatives that is usually asked to ratify decisions made by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Outgoing premier Li took over as the body's new chairman.

But the traditionally meek Congress made the biggest gesture of dissent in its history when 45 percent of its delegates voted against or abstained from a vote on the crime report presented by the government's top prosecutor.

The record-setting low point of support for the government report was seen as an indication that members of the legislature remain unsatisfied with efforts by the government and the Communist Party to stop widespread corruption.