Shanghai poised to choose new party boss

A key Communist Party meeting will be held in Shanghai in May, city authorities announced, sparking rumors that a new city party secretary could be named, the South China Morning Post reported. The previous incumbent, Chen Liangyu, was removed from the post last September for his involvement in the misappropriation of the city's pension fund. Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng is now acting party secretary and it remains to be seen whether he will be allowed to keep the job on a permanent basis. It has been suggested he may replaced by a leader considered closer to President Hu Jintao as Chen's removal was widely seen as being part of a power struggle between Hu and loyalists of former President Jiang Zemin.