China's Communist rulers will gather later this month, state media said Monday, to set a course for the world's second-largest economy over the next five years, as slowing growth raises global concerns.

The Communist Party meeting, known as the Fifth Plenum, is expected to focus on structural reform and easing state control -- although such moves have been repeatedly promised before.

The world's most populous country has enjoyed a decades-long boom since the ruling party embraced market economics and opened up to the rest of the world from the late 1970s.

The process has transformed the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people and propelled the country to global prominence.

But growth has been slowing for several years, and analysts say the party needs to embrace further liberalisation to avoid falling into the stagnation of the "middle income trap", when developing countries fail to fulfil their full potential.

The Communist Party continues to issue regular economic guidance, including Five Year Plans and annual targets for the country's growth.

The Fifth Plenum will be held from October 26 to 29, the official Xinhua news agency reported Monday, citing a statement from the Central Committee.

It will finalise the 13th Five Year Plan, which will start next year.

Under President Xi Jinping, who took power in 2012, the Communist Party has pledged to give markets a decisive role in the economy.

But large-scale interventions into the country's falling stock market this summer have called into question the government's willingness and ability to follow through.

Beijing has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the market and cut interest rates, among other measures, following a rout that saw the Shanghai Composite Index plunge from a high of over 5,000 in mid-June to a low of just under 3,000 in August.

The ruling party has committed to making China a "moderately prosperous society" by 2020, when the plan will complete, a goal that includes doubling per capita income for urban and rural residents from 2010 levels.

Continually rising prosperity is a key element of the Communist Party's claim to legitimacy, but the target has seemed less and less achievable as China's economy has slowed in recent years, weighed down by overcapacity and falling exports.

Leaders have regularly promised a "new normal" of slower but more sustainable growth, led by domestic consumer demand, but the transition is proving bumpy and global markets have been spooked by recent economic figures.

At the meeting in October, leaders are expected to discuss reform of state-owned enterprises that continue to drag on expansion, and their conclusions will be formally approved by the rubber stamp legislature next year.

Plenums are key meetings of China's Communist leaders on specific issues, such as one last year on the rule of law, which issued guidelines intended to centralise the party's power.

Two allies of China ex-security chief jailed for graft
Beijing (AFP) Oct 12, 2015 - Two former senior Chinese politicians were convicted of corruption and given lengthy prison terms on Monday, courts said, the latest figures to be jailed in President Xi Jinping's anti-graft campaign.

Both men are seen as allies of Zhou Yongkang, the former security chief who became the highest-level victim of Xi's drive when he was jailed for life in June, in what many observers say was a political purge.

Jiang Jiemin, the former head of the body that regulates China's state-owned firms, was sentenced to 16 years, the Hanjiang Intermediate People's Court said on a verified social media account.

He was convicted of "accepting bribes, large amounts of money and property from unknown sources, and using state-owned companies for personal gain", it added.

Li Chuncheng, former vice Communist Party boss of Sichuan -- one of Zhou's former powerbases -- was sentenced to 13 years for accepting bribes and abuse of power, according to a statement from the Xianning Intermediate Peoples's Court posted on Sina Weibo.

Jiang is a former head of the China National Petroleum Corporation, a post previously held by Zhou, and Jiang and Li are reportedly part of a Communist Party faction with roots in the oil industry, known as the "petroleum gang".

Aside from the prison sentences, both men will have one million yuan ($158,000) in personal assets confiscated, the statements said. Jiang and Li both accepted the sentences and will not appeal, the courts -- both in the central province of Hubei -- added.

Communist Party authorities have waged a much-publicised campaign against endemic graft since Xi ascended to the organisation's leadership two years ago.

But critics say no systemic reforms have been introduced to increase transparency and help battle the problem, while anti-corruption demonstrators have been jailed.

Corruption trials of former officials in China are closely managed by the ruling party, which retains control of China's police, prosecution and courts.