A spate of fatal accidents this month has cast a pall over the upcoming 18th party congress, when the nation will name its leaders for the next decade, according to an unusual commentary by Xinhua.
The article, published by Xinhua's English service on Tuesday and titled "Multiple accidents test CPC's governability", described August as a "bloody" month. It cited Sunday's highway collision and explosion near Yanan , Shaanxi province that killed 36 passengers when their bus ran into a tanker carrying highly combustible methanol, and last week's collapse of a bridge section in the northeastern city of Harbin that killed three.
"For much of the general public, the more fatal accidents occur, the greater the government's credibility is undermined," the commentary said.
"In the worst-case scenario, the government's failure to minimise deadly man-made accidents will mean that it loses the people's trust, which may prove to be the biggest challenge for the CPC when more than 2,000 delegates from across the country convene later this year to draw up the road map for the future of the party and the country."
The commentary highlighted a difference of opinion among state media on the mainland, in such a politically uncertain and sensitive period before the power shift, according to someone familiar with the nation's propaganda machine.
Professor Zhan Jiang , who teaches journalism at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said yesterday that the Xinhua commentary was "abnormal".