President Jiang Zemin scored a political victory yesterday by mobilising the Central Committee to rally behind him in endorsing a series of decisions he made on the party's construction. The endorsement was contained in a communique issued at the end of a three-day meeting of the Central Committee in Beijing. No major personnel issues were discussed at the meeting. The only appointment announced was Tang Honggao, president of the University of Science and Technology of China, being elevated to the Central Committee. It also expelled two former provincial leaders for corruption. The meeting - the sixth plenum of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party - focused almost exclusively on 'building the party's work style' - jargon for polishing the party's image. It made no reference to the tense situation in Afghanistan nor to the slumping world economy. Instead, Xinhua said the meeting 'spoke highly' of a speech by the President on July 1 celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Communist Party in which he opened the doors for capitalists to join the ruling party. Mr Jiang is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party. The plenum's communique contained a thinly veiled criticism of party conservatives opposed to Mr Jiang's decision to admit the rich and wealthy. It demanded that cadres 'consciously emancipate the mind from outdated ideas, practices and systems, from the wrong and dogmatic understanding of Marxism'. Earlier reports said some conservatives within the party were resisting Mr Jiang's reforms, saying the Communist Party must continue to fight for the proletariat. The communique copied almost verbatim from Mr Jiang's Theory of the Three Representatives, saying it provided the basis for the Communist Party to meet future challenges. The theory - put forward by Mr Jiang more than a year ago - is aimed at laying a theoretical foundation to change the Communist Party into an organisation for all people, not just the working class. However, critics say Mr Jiang has used the theory - and massive campaigns promoting it - to rid himself of political opponents and establish a personality cult that would place him on the same pedestal as late party leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Fighting corruption was another central theme in the communique. It sternly warned cadres that corruption could kill the party and highlighted the danger of alienation from the masses. 'The biggest threat to a Marxist political party is being divorced from the masses,' it said. The communique said the Central Committee decided to hold the 16th Communist Party Congress in the second half of next year - during which new leaders will be announced - but no firm dates were announced.