Xi Jinping lavishes praise on Hu Jintao for his 'clear direction'

Xi Jinping, who is set to take over the Communist Party leadership from general secretary Hu Jintao , has lauded the "clear direction" Hu provided for the party's future.

"The 18th party congress' theme has set out clearly and vividly what banner our party will uphold, what path it will take, what kind of spirit it has and what kind of goal it will pursue," he said late on Thursday.

Xi told the Shanghai delegation's discussion session the country was facing unprecedented challenges and cadres should "continue to uphold the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics" - a phrase interpreted by many observers as a refusal to adopt Western-style democracy.

Hu said political reform must continue but "we must never copy the Western political system".

The term "political reform" tends to be used by officials to refer to administrative reform in the bureaucracy rather than sweeping political changes such as constitutional democracy and rule of law as hoped for by many liberals.

Analysts say Xi's speech closely echoed Hu's because he had to show deference and could not be seen as going beyond his predecessor's rhetoric.