High-level personnel changes within the Communist Party will be kept to a minimum until the 16th party congress, to be held in 2002, in order to preserve unity within the leadership.
A party source said yesterday President Jiang Zemin had come to an agreement with other senior cadres on freezing most top-level personnel movements for two years.
Mr Jiang pointed out in an internal meeting there must be unity at the top to face current challenges, including the growth of the independence movement in Taiwan.
The source said positions at the level of Politburo member and vice-premier would be affected.
For example, Politburo member Ding Guan'gen, 70, who has been head of the Central Committee's Publicity Department since 1992, will probably remain in his position until the congress, even though speculation about his retirement has been rife for two years.
To avoid factional bickering, Mr Jiang has also postponed the transfer of two trusted aides to Beijing. They are the party secretaries of Shanghai, Huang Ju, and of Guangdong, Li Changchun.
'Mr Huang has been a leader in Shanghai since the mid-1980s, when he became vice-mayor and deputy party secretary,' a diplomatic analyst said.