BEIJING -- A key plenum of the Communist Party of China this weekend provides a good opportunity for the country to speed up the upgrade of its economic hard power, overseas experts said.

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee on November 9-12 is expected to set the tone for China's development and reform in the next decade.

Although China has become the second largest economy in the world through the reform and opening-up drive since 1978, it is now facing such serious challenges as faltering economy, a widening wealth gap, deteriorating environment and rising social conflicts.

Fortunately, the Chinese leadership is aware of this and began to shift their policy priorities aimed at achieving a balanced, coordinated and sustained economic development.

Over the past six months, the new Chinese leadership has taken measures to increase quality and efficiency of economic growth, expand domestic demand, readjust economic structure, improve people's livelihood and optimize urbanization.

Murtaza Syed, resident representative of the International Monetary Fund in China, said China has begun to upgrade its economic strength through transforming government functions, cutting excess capacity in production, and reforming the financial market.

"As China begins to put reforms in place to make its domestic economy more balanced, I think there will also be great opportunities for the rest of the world," he said.

China is expected to expound its reform ideas and how to put them into practice during the upcoming plenum, which will help the country improve its economic quality and sustainability, Syed added.

Echoing Syed's view, some other experts also pointed out the spillover effect of the upgrade of China's economic strength.

Robert Campbell, board director of the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce, said China's strong demand for mineral products has helped Australia fend off the impact of the financial crisis.