THE Communist Party has circulated a new internal document giving 'top priority' to eradicating agents of instability in the post-Deng Xiaoping era.
The document coincided with the decision by party chief and President Jiang Zemin to convene the pivotal sixth plenum of the Central Committee shortly after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Mainland sources said yesterday the circular was prompted by the rapidly declining health of the patriarch coupled with a conservative turn in the thinking of the leadership.
While Beijing had in the early 1990s already laid down contingency plans for handling the immediate aftermath of Mr Deng's demise, the leadership has felt the need to revise those plans in light of new challenges to party rule and political stability.
The sources said the document dwelled on the latest manifestations of 'peaceful evolution', or alleged attempts by so-called hostile foreign forces to transform China into a capitalist country.
It referred to recent disturbances by secessionists in Xinjiang province and Tibet, in addition to purported conspiracies by foreign countries to abet Taiwan's pro-independence movement.
