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China's vice-president loses job China's vice-president loses post
(about 1 hour later)
Three of China's top politicians, including Vice-President Zeng Qinghong, have been dropped from the Communist Party's central committee, reports say. Three of China's most senior leaders, including Vice-President Zeng Qinghong, have stepped down from office, the official Chinese news agency has said.
The party's 17th five-yearly congress ends on Sunday in Beijing. Zeng and two other politicians, Luo Gan and Wu Guanzheng, were dropped from the Communist Party's central committee at its five-yearly congress, Xinhua said.
Zeng, 68, and two other senior figures - Luo Gan, 72, and Wu Guanzheng, 69 - were not re-elected, the office Xinhua news agency reports. The announcement is seen as the first stage in a widely expected reshuffle in favour of a new generation of leaders.
President Hu Jintao will announce the new appointments to the nine-member committee on Monday. The three men cannot now be elected to the standing committee on Monday.
The standing committee, which heads the 200-strong central committee, is China's most powerful political body. The nine-member standing committee is the country's supreme decision-making body. A fourth member, Huang Ju, died in the summer and will also be replaced.
There will be four new appointments, as a fourth member, Huang Ju, died in the summer. The congress also decided to include President Hu Jintao's "scientific concept of development" in the party constitution.
The removal of Zeng Qinghong strengthens of position of President Hu Jintao, correspondents say. President Hu is widely expected to be given a second term as general secretary of the party when the central committee meets on Monday.
Zeng, who ranked fifth in the party hierarchy, had been a close ally of the former president, Jiang Zemin. New generation
There were also changes to the central committee, with Vice-Premier Wu Yi losing her post. At the final day of the 17th Communist Party Congress in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, delegates elected a central committee of about 200 members.
The 68-year-old had taken part in tough trade negotiations with the United States. Vice-President Zeng, 68, was not amongst those named, Xinhua reported. His absence means he cannot be elected to the party's politburo or the smaller standing committee, whose members the central committee will elect on Monday.
Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan, 71, and Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, 68, were also omitted from the central committee. Wu Guanzheng, the head of the party's disciplinary committee, and Luo Gan, who oversaw national security affairs as head of the party's politics and law committee, also stepped aside.
This indicates that they may well retire in the coming months. Vice-Premier Wu Yi, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan and Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan were also not named.
The delegates showed respect and appreciation to the three senior leaders for their "breadth of their political vision and sterling integrity", according to Xinhua.
The BBC's Daniel Griffiths in Beijing says the announcement presages the appointment of a new generation of leaders who will take over when President Hu leaves office in five years' time.
There has been considerable speculation about who will be part of that new generation, our correspondent says.
'Princeling'
Mr Zeng, who ranked fifth in the party hierarchy, had been a close ally of the former President, Jiang Zemin.
The Beijing-trained engineer also took part in tough trade negotiations with the United States.
Mr Zeng belonged to the elite group of China's "princelings", the children of veteran Communist Party revolutionaries.
His father, Zeng Shan, was a Red Army veteran and went on to become vice-mayor of Shanghai in 1949 and minister of internal affairs in 1960.
His mother, Deng Liuqin, was in charge of the Shanghai-based East China Kindergarten where the children of many senior officials were brought up.
Mr Zeng joined the Mr Jiang when he was Shanghai Party secretary in the mid-1980s.
When Mr Jiang was transferred to Beijing after the 1989 pro-democracy student movement, the one adviser he chose to take with him was Mr Zeng.
Mr Zeng was elected a member of the Communist Party's standing committee in November 2002, five months before he was became vice-president under Mr Hu.