China's sixth most powerful leader dies

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju, who rose through the ranks in Shanghai to become number six in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy, died early Saturday at the age of 68, state media reported.

Xinhua news agency said only that Huang had died in Beijing of an "illness," but widespread reports had earlier said he was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Huang, who served as Shanghai's top official before assuming a key role at the national level, was a protege of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, his onetime boss in the booming eastern metropolis.

Huang was placed in charge of economic policy matters when he rose to the elite Standing Committee of the Politburo -- China's highest decision-making body -- in 2002.

His death creates an opening in China's inner circle of power ahead of a key five-yearly Communist Party congress later this year, at which President Hu Jintao is expected to stack the leadership with his own supporters.

An obituary issued by the central authorities called Huang "an excellent member of the CPC (Communist Party), a long-tested and faithful Communist fighter and an outstanding leader of the party and the state," Xinhua said.

Although the health of China's leaders has long been a state secret, the government announced in March last year that Huang was ill and would not attend all official functions.