China's Communist Party chiefs met here Tuesday to finalise preparations for a crucial five-yearly gathering during which President Hu Jintao is expected to tighten his grip on power.
The party's central committee of around 350 members opened a plenary session in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency announced, ahead of the Congress of more than 2,000 top cadres that begins next Monday.
This week's meeting will see final discussions on planned changes to the party's constitution that will be made at the Congress, Xinhua said, with earlier reports signalling Hu's ideologies will be installed into the charter.
The plenum will also review a general report that will outline broad agendas for the party for the next five years, according to Xinhua. Hu as party chief will deliver that report in a speech on the opening day of the Congress.
Xinhua said another report from the commission's disciplinary body will also be reviewed this week, which could seal the fate of fallen former Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu, who was sacked last year for corruption.
Many observers believe Chen, who is expected to soon stand trial, was also targeted as part of Hu's plan to get rid of politicians allied with former president Jiang Zemin.
Analysts have told AFP that Hu's top priority at next week's Congress is to shake off the lingering influence of Jiang and cement his own power so he is in a better position to implement his agenda of building a "harmonious society."
Xinhua reported last month that the party's charter would be amended to include Hu's ideology of advancing "scientific development."
This has been widely interpreted as an attempt to correct many of the imbalances that have accompanied China's economic development of the past three decades, and thus temper Jiang's focus on breakneck growth.
The central committee is one of the top organs in China's Communist Party.
Above it is only the Politburo, made up of about 25 members, and the most senior branch of the party, the Standing Committee of the Politburo, which had nine members until the death of one of them this year.
