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China's communists began winding up a five-yearly congress yesterday by announcing the vice-president was out of the new party lineup.
Zeng Qinghong, 68, was not on the newly elected central committee - a council of some 200 full members - Xinhua news agency reported.
Zeng was a powerful party organisation boss long associated with President Hu Jintao's predecessor, Jiang Zemin. Zeng's departure with two other leaders means Hu can announce the promotion of potential successors soon after the congress ends. Security chief Luo Gan, 72, and anti-corruption boss Wu Guanzheng, 69, were also spurned.
Vice-Premier Wu Yi - one of the few women in China's political elite and an experienced trade tsar - was left off as well, indicating she will also soon leave government. But Jia Qinglin, 67, a long-time ally of Jiang, remains.
The new committee will in turn appoint a politburo of a few dozen members and a politburo standing committee, the innermost ring of power with possibly nine members.
The announcements were made on Xinhua's English-language service. Chinese-language state media was quiet on the subject, with government-controlled news featuring a parachutist in Australia dressed as a large pig.
The 2200 delegates are to approve the addition of Hu's slogans into the party charter. The membership of the elite bodies will also tell how much power Hu wields and how he intends to use it, and who his potential successors and rivals are.
