That the world continues to look to China as the driving force for growth and recovery amid contagious pessimism, and the people continue to see improvements in their livelihoods when austerity prevails in the rest of the world, show Hu and his colleagues scored highly in the severe tests they faced. They have steered the economy safely through the 2008 world financial crisis, and kept it so far so good in the whirlpool of the unfolding eurozone debt crisis and the slow economic recovery in the United States.

The signs of continuity seen throughout the CPC leadership change, from the spotlight on direction in Hu's report to Xi's vows to press ahead with what has been laid out, are themselves reasons for confidence that the fine momentum is here to stay. That two leading members of the new Politburo Standing Committee, Xi and Li Keqiang, have served a term at the leadership core per se is a sign of continuity and governance maturity.

The fine momentum has to be sustained, and reform and opening-up, which have been the core drivers of the country's recent rise to prominence, have to be deepened and broadened. That is the only way toward the "qualified answer sheet" the new CPC leader pledged to deliver while meeting the press on Thursday.

Having toiled at some of the poorest places in the most difficult times he and the country have experienced, having worked as a local administrator in different parts of the country, and having served in the CPC's central leadership, Xi knows what the country and its people need.

As he said at the post-election news conference, people want better education, more secure jobs, more satisfactory incomes, more reliable social security, more sophisticated medical services, more comfortable living conditions and a better living environment, and these are what he and his colleagues will strive for.

And he is aware of the challenges the CPC faces. Among the "many severe challenges" and the imperative problems awaiting solution, he enumerated corruption, estrangement from the people, formalism, and bureaucratism, and called for Party-wide vigilance.

Corruption in the CPC's ranks has done so much damage to the Party's image and has been identified as a threat to the Party's governing status by Hu and other leaders. Serious house cleaning is urgently needed to strengthen public confidence.

The conspicuous weight Xi assigned to the topic in his brief speech has inspired anticipation of headway being made in the difficult fight against corruption. Something we hope will be a part of the answer sheet the new CPC leadership hands in when they leave office.

(China Daily 11/16/2012 page9)