Beijing has made much of its increased 'openness' at the ongoing 17th Party Congress, a five-yearly meeting focused on leadership renewal in the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

But the above responses by top Chinese leaders this week when pressed about their political fate suggest that the party still has a long way to go as far as genuine transparency is concerned.

To be fair, the CCP has taken small, if careful, steps forward, and some of the political elites are showing signs of loosening up.

On Monday and Tuesday, for instance, journalists attending the various panel discussions on the sidelines of the Congress were given 30 minutes to ask questions - the very first time Beijing has allowed this.

In the past, journalists were only allowed to listen in on the discussions, while the more enterprising ones would stake out various high-profile delegates outside the toilet.

The decision to allow a question-and-answer session is all the more significant given the highly charged political atmosphere in Beijing this week due to uncertainties over an impending leadership reshuffle.

The talk of the town is that CCP chief Hu Jintao might fail in his attempt to position his protege Li Keqiang as a potential successor in 2012, and that some rising stars who had been tipped for promotion might not rise up the party hierarchy so smoothly.

While no reporter got a straight answer or stunning revelation from any of the Chinese leaders, the process of allowing greater media access was in itself a significant step forward, observers said.

Some senior Chinese leaders also proved to be more media-savvy than previously thought.

On Tuesday, Mr Zhang Dejiang, party boss of the southern Guangdong province, told delegates to shorten their speeches so that the journalists would have 30 minutes to ask question as promised. Those who attended the session said Mr Zhang, who is better known for his crackdown on the aggressive Guangdong media, even extended the question-and-answer session by 10 minutes.

Later that same afternoon, Mr Yu Zhengsheng, top leader of central Hubei province, tackled several sensitive questions from the media with confidence and a dash of humour.

When asked if he was indeed going to become Shanghai's new leader, Mr Yu responded by asking the reporter if this was gleaned from 'roadside rumours', or 'lu bian tou lu chu lai de xiao xi'.

His remarks were a sly dig at the Reuters news agency and a clever play on the agency's Chinese name 'lu tou'. Reuters, citing sources, reported on Wednesday that Mr Yu could soon become the top official of the Chinese financial hub.

'These officials run provinces with population and economies rivalling some countries,' said a political observer here. 'If they can't even handle a few inconvenient questions from the media, they ought to be sacked.'

However, the limits on the CCP's attempt at greater openness were also painfully apparent this week.

At a press conference on Wednesday, a simple question on how many Central Committee members the congress would pick on Sunday drew a disappointing response from Mr Ouyang Song, deputy head of the Organisation Department, which handles key personnel appointments in the party.

'(The list of nominees and actual number of seats available) will be determined by the election method which is just being drawn up, so I am not in a position to tell you that,' he told a roomful of reporters.

The Central Committee, comprising about 350 full and alternate members, is theoretically tasked with making key decisions for the CCP over the next five years, though real power resides with about two dozen leaders at the top.

Hours later, the official Xinhua news agency reported that senior delegates had approved a list of nominees for the new Central Committee, but similarly did not reveal how many members would eventually be picked.

Congress delegates met behind closed doors yesterday, and possibly today as well, for a 'primary election' before the final ballot on Sunday. This measure is to ensure that there are no surprises for the top leadership when the final results are out.

Such practices are perhaps not surprising in a country where economic reforms have far outpaced those in the political arena.

Indeed, China's political elite should take a leaf out of the books of their counterparts in the economic and financial spheres if they are genuinely serious about greater openness in future years.

China Construction Bank chairman Guo Shuqing - whose appointment is equivalent to a vice-ministerial post - held his own admirably at a press conference on Wednesday with no help from media minders.

He hardly broke a sweat as more than 30 reporters fired off question after question for a full hour about inflation, the booming stock market, the bank's overseas expansion plans and other issues.

But when a journalist asked if he was going to become the next central bank chief, Mr Guo unfortunately gave an answer heard all too often this week: 'Rumour. Unfounded.'

chinhon@sph.com.sg