China's Hu set to emerge stronger from Congress

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BEIJING, Oct 20 (Agencies): Chinese President Hu Jintao is set to oust political rivals, promote allies to key posts and emerge politically stronger from a Communist Party conclave. Hu's rival-turned-ally, Vice President Zeng Qinghong, is poised to retirepresenting a boon to Hu, who is seeking to consolidate power at the 17th Party Congress ending Sunday.
Another rival, Chen Liangyu, was sacked as Shanghai Party boss last year and faces trial for corruption.
You Xigui, director of the Party's powerful Bodyguards Bureau and a holdover from the era of Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, will retire after he was left out of the running for a seat in the Party's elite 200-odd member Central Committee.
Several Hu allies who cut their teeth in the Communist Youth League, Hu's power base, are tipped for higher office, and one-third of provincial leaders rose through the Youth League.
Li Keqiang, Party boss of the northeastern rust-belt province of Liaoning, is front-runner to be promoted to the top echelon of power, the Party's nine-seat Politburo Standing Committee.
Another Hu ally, Liu Yandong, minister of the Party's United Front Work Department responsible for winning over non-Communists, is a shoo-in to become the only female member of the Politburo, ranked one notch below the Standing Committee.
Li Yuanchao, Party boss of wealthy Jiangsu province in the east coast, and Wang Yang, who runs the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, are candidates to join the decision-making 20-odd member Politburo. All have Youth League backgrounds.
"Hu is now a super-patron who can dispense favors and insert people in key party, government and military positions," said Alfred Chan, a political scientist at Canada's Huron College.