Interestingly, while Deng referred to Mr Jiang as the 'core' of the third generation of party leaders, Mr Hu is never referred to as the 'core' of the fourth generation because Mr Jiang declined to confer this honour on him when he assumed leadership of the party. It is difficult for Mr Hu to designate himself in this fashion and this is likely to be a key task assigned to his successor five years from now, whoever that may be.

Mr Hu also made clear the party had made progress under his leadership. 'Since the party's 16th national congress [five years ago when Mr Hu succeeded Mr Jiang], the party's Central Committee has inherited and developed the three-generation central leading collectives' important thinking on development and put forward the scientific development concept.'

That is to say he has 'developed' the thinking of the three and put forward his own concept - that of 'scientific development' - which seeks integrated solutions to tackle China's various economic, environmental and social problems.

This is reminiscent of what Deng did after Mao's demise, when he asserted that the late leader's theories - known as 'Mao Zedong thought' - reflected the collective wisdom of the party and would continue to develop after Mao's death.

In fact, Mr Hu gave more emphasis to Deng and Mr Jiang than he did to Mao, who had emphasised class struggle and world revolution rather than the economic development which is the priority of today's leaders. He praised Deng's concept of developing 'socialism with Chinese characteristics' - a way of making capitalist methods acceptable - and Mr Jiang's 'important thinking of the Three Represents', under which the party is absorbing capitalists into its ranks.

According to Mr Jiang the party must represent the country's advanced productive forces (including capitalists), advanced culture, and the vast majority of the people. This is very different from Mao's time when the party was said to represent workers, peasants and soldiers.

Significantly, Mr Hu also emphasised the need for greater democracy and running the country according to law. 'Developing socialist democracy has always been a consistent goal of our party,' he said.

In an apparent response to criticism that China has neglected political reform while pressing ahead with economic changes, he said: 'Our country's political structural reform ... must continuously move along with economic and social development and it must be commensurate with the continuous rise of our people's enthusiasm for political participation.'

Recent developments, which include a new labour law that strengthens protections for workers and new regulations to reduce government secrecy and grant citizens greater access to official information, suggest that additional limited political reforms are likely to be instituted in the coming five years.

Despite his emphasis on greater democracy, Mr Hu made it clear that the party would continue to lead the country. He said there was a need to balance the wishes of the people to become 'masters of the country' and 'ruling the country by law' with the continued leadership role of the party.

Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer and commentator