BEIJING has unveiled a package of tough measures to restore the central Government's powers over national finances.
And the Chinese Communist Party is set to revise its eight-month-old ''state doctrine'' of the socialist market economy by re-emphasising state control over the economy.
In internal meetings in the run-up to an economic summit that will be convened within the week, Executive Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji and senior ministers have disclosed measures to reverse the drain of power and funds from the centre to the localities.
Taking the cue from Mr Zhu, the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) yesterday also put forward recommendations on restoring fiscal discipline.
Mr Zhu, who has taken over the banking portfolio from the deposed governor of the People's Bank of China, Li Guixian, will also spearhead the first major overhaul of the financial system since 1949.
Sources close to the State Council said top of Mr Zhu's agenda was restoring the central Government's macro-economic control mechanisms.
The State Planning Commission (SPC), whose powers had earlier been cut, has been given new authority in the programme of ''curing and rectifying the economy'', the theme of the impending summit of ministers and provincial governors.