Chinese liberals cautious on hope for reform

Liberal intellectuals on the mainland are cautiously optimistic about the new leadership but have reservations about how much progress can be expected under the current one-party regime.

Dozens of liberal party leaders, legal experts and professors gathered at a forum organised by political magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu and Peking University two days after the closing of the 18th Communist Party congress to discuss political reform.

Reformist party veteran He Fang, who attended the forum, told the Sunday Morning Post he appreciated President Hu Jintao's decision to hand over the chairmanship of the party's military commission to new party chief Xi Jinping. He said Hu's retirement as party and military chief would enable the new generation of leaders to follow its own agenda.

"Now the new people can do their own things with free hands," said He, 90.

But He, an expert in Communist Party history who was castigated as a rightist by Mao Zedong in the 1950s, said he was not totally optimistic. "Nobody talks about democracy, the rule of law and constitutional democracy, so it's hard to guess" what the leaders want to do, he said.

Yanghuang Chunqiu's chief editor, Wu Si, said he found encouraging signs in Hu's work report, which set the direction for the country in the next five years.