Beijing – The Chinese government announced Thursday that five senior officials were being replaced, including the finance and state security ministers, as part of a broad realignment leading up to a crucial Communist Party congress in October.
Finance Minister Jin Renqing has resigned for personal reasons after four years of managing the country’s booming finances, the government said. Jin, 63, was replaced by Xie Xuren, 59, director of the State Tax Administration.
The shift was likely to have little impact on China’s overall economic policy, which follows strategy handed down from senior party leaders in the Politburo and Standing Committee.
At the State Security Ministry, which runs China’s secret police and many of its intelligence operations at home and abroad, Geng Huichang will replace Xu Yongyue as chief. Along with the Public Security Ministry, the little publicized State Security apparatus has long been a pillar on which the party relies to maintain order and prevent any challenges to its monopoly on power.
The ministry changes, touching day-to-day administrators, did not affect positions in the Politburo or its Standing Committee, where ultimate power resides in the Chinese system. But they were seen as further steps in President Hu Jintao’s effort to put loyalists in positions throughout the government and have his leadership solidified at the congress scheduled to open Oct. 15.
Several Hong Kong newspapers said the departure of Finance Minister Jin might have been linked to involvement with a woman who served as the mistress of two other senior officials, one of whom has been arrested for corruption.
