It’s not about who leads China. Whether the top man is Hu Jintao , Li Keqiang or Xi Jinping makes little difference. As long as China chooses leaders through an ossified, secretive process that draws on candidates from a small pool of like-minded elites, all from the same party, it will only face more of the same.

China’s Communist Party has succeeded in engineering rapid growth, transforming the nation into the world’s fourth largest economy. But as that economy matures, the limitations of its authoritarian political system are becoming ever more apparent.

Communist leaders talk about tackling the overheated economy and narrowing the gap between rich and poor. They hold meetings about controlling the country’s voracious energy consumption. They make pledges to clean up rampant pollution. They call press conferences to talk about product safety. But too often, it’s all just talk.

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