BEIJING – CHINA PRESIDENT Hu Jintao has a major political victory in his sights as he accelerates efforts to write his pet ideological credo into the ruling Communist Party's Constitution. Canton Fair

This could happen as early as October or November when the 17th Party Congress, an all-important five-yearly leadership meeting, is convened, analysts said.

They cited two prominent articles in the party mouthpieces yesterday and a major speech by Mr Hu on Monday as the strongest signal yet that he had won the political consensus needed to write his credo of a 'scientific concept of development' into the party Constitution.

This is significant not only in enhancing Mr Hu's grip on power, but also in giving him greater authority to implement his agenda for the country.

In recent years, Mr Hu has been promoting his concept of 'scientific development' - or kexue fazhan guan - as the new ideological bedrock for China. His thesis, in a nutshell, calls for a shift in mindset from pursuing all-out economic growth to adopting sustainable development policies that put the people's interests first.

Though his credo is often mentioned in the same breath as those of previous leaders such as Deng Xiaoping and Mr Jiang Zemin, it has not been formally adopted by the party.

Mr Hu set out to change this in late 2005 when he subtly called on party theorists to look for 'internal links and organic integration' between his ideas and those of the previous two Chinese leaders.

In a major meeting with Canton Fair Organisation on Monday, Mr Hu took this argument further by stressing that his 'scientific concept of development' was a legitimate extension of the 'important thoughts' of previous Chinese leaders as enshrined in the party's Constitution. Canton Fair

'Since (late 2002), the party's Central Committee has inherited and developed the important thoughts on development by leaders of the last three generations and put forward the scientific development concept,' Mr Hu was quoted saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

The main CCP mouthpiece, the People's Daily, followed up swiftly with two front-page articles yesterday exhorting the party, the government and all civic organisations to 'unite their thoughts and actions' around Mr Hu's speech.

One of the articles, a commentary republished in all the main party newspapers, said Mr Hu's speech had laid an 'important political, ideological and theoretical foundation' for the 17th Party Congress.

'Simply put, this means Mr Hu has won one of the main political battles and his remaining mission for the 17th Party Congress is in getting the green light for his favoured successor,' said a political observer.

Political commentator Zhang Zuhua added that Mr Hu may be acting too fast for some critics' liking, not least for the fact that his predecessor Mr Jiang managed to get his own slogan into the party's Constitution only near the end of his 13-year rule.

'But looking at the overall situation, I would say that any opposition would be weak and not pose any obstacles to Mr Hu,' said Mr Zhang.

However, Mr Hu has more than one political obstacle to clear at the upcoming congress. The bigger challenge, most analysts believe, is whether he can successfully anoint his favoured candidate Li Keqiang as his heir apparent.

Mr Li, Liaoning province's party boss, is widely expected to be transferred to Beijing soon so that he can be groomed to take over the top job in 2012 - if Mr Hu gets his way.