The Third Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has drawn the attention of overseas media. Here are some abstracts of the comments and news reports from international media.

On Nov 15: The relaxation of the one-child policy may not cause a significant rise in the country's population of 1.3 billion people, demographers say. Couples where both partners are only children - common in Chinese cities - have long been allowed to have a second child, but, because of the rising costs of housing and education, not all do. Potentially more significant than the closing of the camps was a promise to "explore the establishment of a judicial system that is properly separate from the local administration" and extend the use of the jury system.

On Nov 15: China unwrapped its boldest set of economic and social reforms in nearly three decades on Friday, relaxing its one-child policy and further freeing up markets in order to put the world's second-largest economy on a more stable footing. Analysts suggested the plans are the most significant since Deng Xiaoping led a series of reforms in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. Those changes eventually opened up the country to the outside world and set it on course to become the champion economy of emerging markets. Chinese leaders are acutely aware of what is at stake as years of rapid growth come to an end. Having been the factory to the world, they want to avoid the so-called middle-income trap, where wealth creation stagnates as market share is lost to lower-cost rivals.

On Nov 15: On Friday, more details emerged on what exactly Beijing's top leaders approved during their conference, and the pledged reforms are much meatier and potentially more powerful than anything previously suggested, and tackle some of the worst ills of the economy. Beijing pledged to end some monopolies, improve State-owned enterprise management and allow the private sector to invest in projects with SOEs. Such steps could make SOEs more competitive and allow greater scope for more productive private enterprise. Now it is clear Xi does appreciate the weaknesses of the Chinese economy excess capacity, rising debt, a distorted financial sector, a lack of competition and appears willing to confront them head on.

On Nov 13: China's ruling party has pledged to let markets play a "decisive" role in allocating resources, as it unveiled a reform agenda for the next decade, looking to overhaul the world's second-largest economy to drive future growth.The meeting comes after China's economy racked up its worst growth rate in 13 years in 2012, expanding at an annual rate of 7.7 percent. President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang must unleash new growth drivers as the economy, after three decades of breakneck expansion, begins to sputter, burdened by industrial overcapacity, piles of debt and eroding competitiveness.

- An Baijie

(China Daily 11/17/2013 page1)