His theme was taken up again extensively in the official press. ``This is the foundation stone of Jiang Zemin thought,'' said a Western diplomat who attended the speech along with 10,000 party officials, youth league members and soldiers. One of Jiang's new buzz-words is ``the flood-fighting spirit'', without which the President said China could not have overcome the catastrophic summer floods which left more than 3,000 dead. This spirit showed a ``new development of the national spirit of the Chinese nation in modern times'' which should be ``inherited and upheld by ourfuture generations'', he said.

``The floods provide an opportunity to drum up all the specific achievements this year,'' said an Asian diplomat. ``There is a need to build up the spirit with the economy slowing down.'' Jiang has been working on the concept since a propaganda campaign began dominating media reports in August, when the floods were at their height. He has been portrayed inspecting ``the front line'' in several places across flood-hit provinces and some analysts note that even his gestures have begun to look like those of Chairman Mao in his heyday. ``Ideology was his weak point until now,'' the Western diplomat said, adding that the timing of the speech -- two days before China celebrates its national day and in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of Deng's reforms -- was significant.

Jiang enlarged upon this theme, comparing it also to the fight against the Asian financial crisis and social problems caused by rapid economic restructuring. He even made a reference to the suppression of the1989 Tiananmen democracy movement. ``In the late 1980s and early 1990s China stood up to political disturbances and successfully withstood a severe test of a political risk,'' Jiang said. But there was little evidence of ideological change in Jiang's speech, which reaffirmed the supreme power of the Communist Party, with the People's Liberation Army under the absolute control of the party.