China warns Party officials not to form "gangs"

BEIJING, Oct 13 (Reuters) The Chinese Communist Party has warned officials not to set up cliques with former colleagues or classmates, in a thinly veiled volley against the so-called Shanghai Gang after the sacking of that city's party boss.

''From the revelation of some local corruption cases involving 'cliques' we can see that some cadres set up these 'groups' using the pretext that they are old classmates, colleagues or war-time friends,'' the official Xinhua news agency said in a terse, Shanghai-datelined commentary today.

Xinhua mentioned no names, but called the formation of these gangs ''a big scourge of inner-Party harmony''.

President Hu Jintao has stepped up a campaign to consolidate his position, edging out key allies of predecessor Jiang Zemin who had his power base in the booming economic hub of Shanghai.

Shanghai Party boss Chen Liangyu was sacked last month, accused of misusing pension funds and helping enrich cronies.

''Recent corruption cases in some places have sounded the alarm bell for leading officials at all levels as to the serious danger presented by forming cliques,'' the Xinhua commentary said.

''Strengthening the movement of officials to different places and posts helps prevent the formation of 'cliques' and does away with their breeding ground,'' Xinhua said, in language similar to that used in previous Party purges.

The Party had been expected to announce senior personnel changes at a Central Committee meeting, which ended on Wednesday, and pave the way for an important Party Congress late next year.

But official reports have so far given no indication that the closed-door meeting took any decisions about Chen, nor has there been word of other top-level personnel changes.

Hu, appointed Party general secretary at the previous Congress in 2002, is expected to seek to consolidate his grip on power and ideology at next year's gathering.

Many of Hu's colleagues in the Party's inner circle are Jiang allies or proteges -- referred to as the Shanghai Gang -- and Hu is likely to push some into retirement at the 2007 Congress.

Chen has lost his seat in the Party's 24-member Politburo, the first member of the decision-making body to be sacked since 1995 when Jiang purged and jailed Beijing Party boss Chen Xitong. The two Chens are not related.

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng has been named the city's acting Party chief, and some insiders had said Hu might use the just-concluded Central Committee meeting to appoint a protege to run the city.

REUTERS SP BS1509