New leaders confident in fulfilling responsibilities

In a leadership transition that has caught the attention of the world, the Communist Party of China has smoothly handed over helmsmanship to the new CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping and his colleagues.

Now the world is curious about the "qualified answer sheet" that Xi promised, on behalf of his team, to submit "to the people and to history".

The Party's confidence was what has impressed us most throughout the just-completed leadership transition. The entire report former CPC general secretary Hu Jintao delivered to the 18th National Congress of the CPC was permeated with confidence. The high-profile confidence displayed in the path chosen, the theories serving as the CPC's compass for action, as well as the country's systems was a clear sign that the Party has more confidence in its helmsmanship than ever before. So too were the commitments to adhering to socialism with Chinese characteristics and to balance efficiency and fairness.

Confidence was also obvious in the CPC's reflections on the "one country, two systems" mechanism, as well as on the country's relations with the rest of the world. The statement in Hu's report that "the weak being the prey of the strong is not the right way for humanity's coexistence, wantonly engaging in military ventures cannot bring about a beautiful world" was a declaration that this country is confident in its path of peaceful development and that it will be a power that brings benefits to mankind.

Confidence was also evident in the way the relay baton was handed over. That former CPC general secretary and central military commission chairman Hu Jintao resigned from both positions at the same time has been aptly read as full confidence in the Party's new leaders.

As they bid farewell to the forefront of national leadership, Hu Jintao and his retiring CPC colleagues deserve congratulations and thanks for what they have brought about and left behind. They have given us plenty of reasons to be confident.

We as a nation would not have been as proud and confident without the steady and robust progress the country has achieved during the 10 years under their leadership.

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.