Any political leader who had overseen the stunning economic growth of China over the past decade could be excused some boasting and perhaps a karaoke session singing I Did it My Way. Nothing like that for the outgoing Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, who in a valedictory press conference this week confessed to being "incompetent" and admitted that his record left much room for improvement.
Amid the sackcloth and ashes of his three-hour session with journalists Mr Wen let slip a grim prediction. China must reform its political and economic system, he said, and if it does not, it could lose all the gains it has made and risk a "historic tragedy" on the scale of the Cultural Revolution.
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