China's Communist Party prepares for power handover

SpaceWar

by Staff Writers Beijing (AFP) Nov 1, 2012

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.

Xi Jinping

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.