Secrecy shrouded a meeting of China's Communist Party for a third day on Saturday, but party sources said military chief Jiang Zemin was likely to give up his last post due to ill health, completing a leadership succession.
Jiang, 78, has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks to step aside by passing on the chairmanship of the Central Military Commission to party chief Hu Jintao, 61, at a four-day, closed-door party plenum that ends on Sunday.
Jiang, who had offered to resign on previous occasions in a tactic aimed at forcing allies to ask him to stay on, is likely to step down this time for health reasons, several party sources said, requesting anonymity.
"His health is very poor ... He wants to go," one source told Reuters, quoting a family member.
Jiang has had a heart problem since as early as 1989, said another source with ties to the party leadership.
Hu, who replaced Jiang as party chief in 2002 in the most orderly succession in Chinese Communist history and as president in 2003, would hold the three most powerful positions in China after taking over the military portfolio.