From Hong Kong Standard
By Wu ZhongTOP Communist Party leaders have agreed that Premier Li Peng will replace Qiao Shi as chairman of China's parliament next year, when Mr Qiao steps down to head the party's anti-graft watchdog.
Sources in Beijing said that as a meeting of leaders at the seaside resort of Beidaihe wound down, news had begun spreading about a leadership reshuffle at the 15th party congress, due to be held in mid-September.
Among the news was that Mr Qiao _ now number three in the leadership rankings _ had finally agreed to give up his chairmanship of the National People's Congress to Mr Li who, under the constitution, has to step down at the end of his term.
``This is to carry out Deng Xiaoping's will to keep intact the post-Deng central leadership with Jiang Zemin and Li Peng as the chief heads,'' a source said.
``Under such circumstances, Li has to have a government post.''
It has been widely reported that China's economic tsar, Zhu Rongji, will succeed Mr Li as premier.
Sources said that Mr Qiao would take charge of the party's Central Commission for Disciplinary Commission (CCDC), the country's top anti-corruption watchdog.
China analysts said the move showed Beijing would attach greater importance to the struggle against rampant official corruption.
The graft plague has been described by President Jiang Zemin as an issue that will determine the life or death of the Communist Party in China.
The current head of the CCDC is Wei Jianxing, a Politburo member who replaced Chen Xitong as Beijing municipal party chief two years ago when Mr Chen was put under investigation for his role in the largest corruption scandal in the history of communist China.
The corruption case of Mr Chen _ at the time also a Politburo member _ was awkward because the head of the graft-busting body, Mr Wei, was lower in the party hierarchy than the man he was investigating.
Analysts said that by appointing Mr Qiao as head of the CCDC, Beijing apparently wanted the body to become more powerful and more effective.
Before Mr Wei's appointment, the CCDC had always been headed by someone more senior in the party.
From 1987 to 1992, Mr Qiao worked as a Politburo Standing Committee member and was secretary of the CCDC.
Between 1978 and 1987, the CCDC was headed by the late Chinese leader Chen Yun.
Chen's seniority in the Communist Party hierarchy was on par with that of Deng. Chen died in early 1996.