This November, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proved to be the most noteworthy event in China. Deciding the country's direction for the next five to 10 years, the meeting was as significant as the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978, where the reform and opening-up policy was drawn up.

As expected, the meeting centered on fine-tuning policies as needed by this new era in China's history. The communiqué released upon the completion of the meeting clarified "comprehensively deepening reform" as the general goal, with focus on improving and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and pushing on with the modernization of the country's governing system and capabilities.

The communiqué emphasized that economic reform is key, and that a proper relationship between the government and the market is essential, leaving the latter to play a decisive role in allocation of resources.

From this we can tell that historical breakthroughs will be achieved in the next five to 10 years. In terms of deployment, the design focuses on economy, politics, culture, society, ecology and Party building, with detailed reform tasks for each area. As for the timetable, results must be achieved in all key sectors by 2020.

Another important achievement is that the CPC will also set up a central leading team for guiding reform as well as a state security committee.

This meeting sends a strong signal and provides a guarantee for China's reforms.