China's Communist Party approved a five-year reform plan on Thursday. The plan will run from 2016 to 2020. No details were revealed.

Most analysts expect that the economic growth target will be downgraded to 6.5% from 7.0%. A 6.5% growth is needed to achieve the party's target of doubling GDP and per-capita income of both urban and rural residents by 2020.

China's economy expanded 6.9% in the third quarter, beating expectations for a 6.8% gain, after a 7.0% in the second quarter. It was the weakest growth since 2009.