Reports ready for congress

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The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China concluded a four-day plenum on Sunday, approving a political report to be unveiled at the Party's national congress slated for Thursday.

It also endorsed earlier decisions to expel two disgraced senior members from the CPC.

At the end of the seventh and the last plenum of the 17th Central Committee, Party leaders also approved proposed amendments to the CPC Constitution and agreed that "favorable grounds" have been laid and "full preparations" made for the crucial 18th National Congress of the CPC.

President Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, addressed the plenum, which was presided over by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, according to a statement issued on Sunday.

Altogether, the Central Committee's 200 members and 165 alternate members attended the key meeting, with members of the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the Party's anti-corruption watchdog -and other leading officials of departments participating as non-voting members, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

The statement said that Vice- President Xi Jinping, a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, explained to the plenum the draft report to the 18th Party congress and the draft amendment to the CPC Constitution.

The plenum agreed on the documents, both of which it decided will be submitted to the upcoming Party congress for review, according to the statement.

It, however, did not spell out what changes have been proposed for the Party charter.

Several professors with the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC contacted by China Daily on Sunday night said they believed the amendment will encompass the Party's "latest theoretical innovations". They declined to elaborate.

The last time it was amended dates back to the 17th National Congress five years ago.

The plenum announced that the Central Committee had agreed on a decision made by the Politburo in September to expel Bo Xilai, former Party chief of Chongqing, from the Party for "severe disciplinary breaches".

Bo was stripped of Party membership on Sept 28.

The 63-year-old was removed from public office and his suspected law violations and evidence were transferred to judicial organs for handling.

Also reaffirmed at the meeting was the expelling of former railways minister Liu Zhijun from the Party in May for corruption following the high-speed train collision that claimed 40 lives and injured another 172 near the eastern city of Wenzhou in July 2011.

Alongside the plenum, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection held a two-day meeting, pledging to intensify anti-corruption efforts.

The commission released a statement after the meeting, warning that anti-corruption is a "long-term, complicated and tough battle", according to a Xinhua report.

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.