Guangdong party secretary Wang Yang urges reform in late power grab

Guangdong's party secretary Wang Yang has made a fresh call for reform in what analysts are describing as a last-ditch attempt to garner support for his ascension to the top ruling body in the National Party Congress.

Wang, who is widely seen as one of the party's leading voices for reform, told party officials in Foshan on Tuesday that the drive for change "must never stagnate and never stop", the Southern Metropolis Daily of Guangzhou said yesterday.

He was talking mainly about market and administrative reforms needed to improve the economy and the investment environment, but also of the need to defuse social conflict that might otherwise escalate into unrest. To make his case, Wang used the "frog-in-the-pot" analogy.

"Like a frog immersed in warm water, when the water temperature isn't too hot, nobody wants to take a risky step. But by the time you realise [how hot it is], it is already too late to find a solution," Wang was quoted as saying.

"Reform is the fundamental solution; we shouldn't be afraid of risks," he said. "It is difficult, but there will be more difficulties if we don't carry out reform."

The speech comes on the heels of Wang's visit last week to the Communist Party's revolutionary capital of Yanan , Shaanxi province, where he paid homage to a statue of the party's late patriarch, Mao Zedong .