BEIJING - China's leaders on Thursday identified improving the country's soft power as a key concern in the next five years.

They discussed the matter at the four-day Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee, a key meeting putting forward a plan for economic and social development in the 2016-2020 period.

The country's reform must be steered for not only material but also ideological progress, according to a communique issued afterwards.

Citizens' morality needs to be improved and they need to be made more patriotic and aware of the law and their social responsibilities, it added.