Tax collector replaces Chinese finance minister Jin

BEIJING, Aug 28 (Reuters) Chinese finance minister of the past four years, Jin Renqing, has been shifted to a government think-tank post and will be replaced by the country's top tax collector, government sources said today.

Jin, 63, will be replaced by Xie Xuren, director of the State Administration of Taxation, they said, citing an announcement by the Communist Party's organisation department.

Xie's promotion will require approval by the National People's Congress, or parliament, they said, although this is essentially a formality.

They gave no specific reasons why Jin had been transferred, and he had given no public indication that he was planning to step aside. His most recent appearance was at a meeting of Asia Pacific finance ministers in Australia in early August.

Jin took over as head of the Finance Ministry in 2003, after serving as chief of the tax administration from 1998. He will take up a senior post at the Development Research Centre, a think-tank under the State Council, China's cabinet, the sources said.

The reshuffle takes place as China's Communist Party is preparing for its 17th Congress, the biggest political meeting in five years, which will open on October 15.

Officials are now jockeying behind the scenes for top posts in the party, and the changes are expected to be revealed at the congress. A series of ministerial personnel changes are expected to follow in the months before next year's meeting of parliament, which endorses party decisions, in March.

FROM WORKER TO MINISTER Xie, 59, has rapidly risen the Party ranks, having spent 14 years as a worker in a machinery factory in the booming eastern province of Zhejiang.

As tax chief since March 2003, Xie pledged to weed out tax evaders while lightening the burden for low-income groups to help bridge a yawning gap between rich and poor now preoccupying China's Communist rulers.

He also oversaw a boom in tax collection fuelled by the nation's unbridled economic growth.

As finance minister, Xie will play more of an administrative role managing the country's finances rather than drive policy across a wide range of economic matters, a role played by counterparts in the West.

REUTERS LPB HT1755