Xu Youyu, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said widespread moral and ethical problems were an indisputable fact in China today, affecting every sector of society and every industry.

'It is surprising that anyone would still make a serious attempt at denial,' Xu said, while agreeing that the Qiushi editorial might have been politically motivated.

He said it was unwise to target Wen, if that was the intention. 'Few people would think Wen did something outrageous by admitting that there is a moral decline.' he said.

Hu Xingdou , a professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said a moral crisis was not unusual when there was a market economy without matching progress in civil society and public welfare.

But 'some of our officials still don't want to face it', he said of the problem.

The Qiushi editorial said that, in today's China, morality and the economy generally progressed at the same rate.

It said the moral problems mainly revolved around 'certain times, certain places and among certain groups of people', including corruption among only 'a few officials', as well as some cases of commercial fraud, some unethical behaviour among cultural personalities and some problems among citizens.

But those were only 'sectoral phenomena'.

It particularly criticised mass-market 'small newspapers and small magazines' and online media for showing no interest in reporting moral examples that the government wanted to promote, while instead seeking to exaggerate ethical aspects of certain events.

The official Guangming Daily ran two commentaries between October and December condemning the 'hasty judgment' of the nation's moral degeneration.

The articles were widely believed to be targeting Wen, who, at a seminar in April, cited many food safety scandals, such as the melamine-contaminated infant milk, steamed buns dyed with chemicals, the use of 'lean meat powder' and the use of illegal cooking oil or 'gutter oil'.

'These virulent food safety incidents have shown the grave situation of the degradation of morality and the loss of credits,' Wen said, according to Xinhua.

He added that 'a country without the improved quality of its people and the power of morality will never grow into a mighty and respected power'.

The recent morality debate in Beijing is not the first time that Wen has been targeted by media under the Communist Party's direct control. In October, the People's Daily ran an editorial saying that those calling for faster democracy-oriented political reform really had nothing to offer except showy actions and empty slogans. Wen was noted to be the most frequent proponent of political reform among the top leaders.

In the speech published by Qiushi, Hu called for officials to be aware that ideological and cultural areas were the focus of international hostile forces' attempt to divide and westernise China.