Former president Jiang Zemin gave up the top job in China?s military yesterday, handing over his last post to Communist Party chief Hu Jintao to complete a historic leadership transition to a younger generation.

The party?s Central Committee accepted the resignation of the 78-year-old Jiang on the final day of a four-day closed-door plenum and approved Hu?s rise to chairman of the party?s Central Military Commission, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Hu, 61, who replaced Jiang as party chief in 2002 and as president in 2003, now holds the three most powerful positions in China after taking the military portfolio, completing the first orderly succession in Chinese Communist history.

?The Hu Jintao era has started,? said a Chinese political analyst who asked not to be identified.

In a sign Jiang?s influence is already waning, his closest political ally, Vice President Zeng Qinghong, did not join the military commission. Xu Caihou, 61, a member of the military commission, was promoted as a vice-chairman, Xinhua said.

Jiang?s departure was unlikely to result in dramatic changes to domestic, foreign and economic policies with Hu set to pursue reforms that have transformed China into the world?s seventh-largest economy while cooling breakneck growth.

The hydraulic engineer was almost certain not to stray from Jiang?s tough stand on using force to recover the island of Taiwan if it moves formally to declare independence.

Xinhua gave no reason for Jiang?s retirement, but a source close to his family said he was in poor health. Jiang has had a heart problem since as early as 1989, said sources with ties to party leadership circles.

?Now that Hu takes over the top job, people will want to know how well he can strike a balance between easing China-Taiwan tensions, sustaining economic growth and maintaining China-US relations, particularly when there might be a new US president following November?s election,? said James Sung, principal lecturer at City University of Hong Kong.

Jiang had not been due to retire his final post until 2007 but came under pressure to follow in the footsteps of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, who retired from the top military job two years after quitting the party?s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee but wielded power behind the scenes for years.

His departure would defuse budding tensions with Hu and thus head off a power struggle in the style of past rivalries under communist rule that have resulted in abrupt policy shifts and toppled several from the precarious position of heir-apparent.