While comment on the import of yet another term for President Xi Jinping and the reconstituted hierarchy of the Communist Party of China must await the conclusion of the 19th party congress, now in session at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, last Wednesday’s inaugural reaffirmed that China is at the threshold of yet another phase in its history.

Historians will draw a fine distinction between the two established paradigms of the discipline ~ an “event” (the party congress) and a “phase” that he has enunciated.

The preliminary indicators were remarkably profound as Xi is said to have uttered the pivotal words ~ “new era” ~ as many as 36 times in course of his three-and-a-half hour presentation, in itself a record by any reckoning. Having revamped the People’s Liberation Army a fortnight before the Communist party congress, he has now emitted a signal on the road ahead to the world, verily the agenda for his second term in office.

The address, therefore, was as relevant to the domestic audience as to the world. There is little doubt that after five years in the Presidential palace, he has heralded the dawn of a “new era” of politics and power where “Thanks to decades of tireless struggle, China stood tall and firm in the east”. Not that he has indulged in an overdose of wishful thinking.

There is a degree of what Marxists would call “pragmatic realism” as he tempered his statement of intent with a note of utmost caution. “Now it is time for the nation to transform itself into a mighty force that could lead the world on political, economic, military and environmental issues. It will be an era that sees China moving closer to centre-stage and making greater contributions to mankind,” Xi told the 2,200 delegates.

Lest the statement be interpreted both within the party and abroad as an expression of starryeyed euphoria, he was wary enough to warn the delegates that what he called the “China Dream” would be “no walk in the park.

It will take more than drum-beating and gong-clanging to get there.” For all the grandstanding, Xi is acutely aware of the underbelly of “a great nation that has been through hardships and adversity but remains indomitable”. Markedly, his long-term vision was couched in the warning that corruption remained the greatest threat to the party’s survival despite a five-year war on graft that he claimed had been “built into a crushing tide. We must rid ourselves of any virus that erodes the party’s health.”

He has made it pretty obvious that corruption remains a forbidding challenge, and not least in a one-party system. His ambitious agenda must fructify in addressing that challenge.

Both the “China Dream” and the canker within are matters of riveting concern to Xi and his thoughts. He has come through as a transformative figure who sees himself in the same tradition as Mao and Deng.