BEIJING: Top members of China's Communist Party are expected to debate
leadership changes and oust disgraced figure Bo Xilai as they hold their last
meeting starting Thursday ahead of a power transition next week.
The plenum of the 17th Communist
Party Central Committee, held behind closed doors, could last up to four days
and will be closely watched for clues about next week's pivotal congress.
The once-in-a-decade congress is
set to name leaders for the next 10 years with Vice President Xi Jinping
expected to succeed President Hu Jintao, while Vice Premier Li Keqiang will
likely replace outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao.
Little else is known on who will
fill a supporting cast to run the world's second-largest economy, with Chinese
politics remaining shrouded in secrecy and intrigue.
The plenum will see leaders
jostling for positions and is also expected to conclude with a formal decision
to oust Bo, who is at the centre of a scandal that has plagued the sensitive
leadership transition.
Bo was stripped of his parliament
seat and lost legal immunity last week, paving the way for him to face charges
of abuse of power, taking bribes and improper sexual relations.
Ending his association with the
party is a final piece of house-keeping the leaders were expected to conclude
before the November 8 start of the congress, analysts say.
Before his wife was convicted of
murdering a British businessman in August, Bo, the son of a revolutionary hero,
had been tipped to enter the upper echelons of power.
The scandal split the top
leadership, with reformers seeking to use the case to advance their push for
the rule of law and democratic reform, while conservatives scrambled to shore
up the image of a ruling party mired in corruption allegations.
Further complicating the
political landscape was a New York Times report last week claiming that Wen's
family had accumulated assets worth $2.7 billion, in a blow to his self-styled
image as a common man leading the fight against graft.
For the plenum and ahead of the
congress, the ruling party has further tightened already strict censorship of
the media and Internet, while cities have been flooded with police and security
personnel.
Over 1.4 million people have
volunteered to help police "maintain stability" in Beijing in the run
up to the congress, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
- AFP/fa
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