BEIJING - A top-level reform group headed by President Xi Jinping has likened the country's reform drive to a "revolution" which challenges vested interests, while calling for real action to keep it going.

"Reform is a revolution that aims to rectify the system and challenge vested interests. There is no way to do it other than using real swords and spears," said a statement released after a meeting of the Leading Group for Overall Reform, using the Chinese idiom that underscores the importance of the task.

Xi presided over the meeting on Monday, which was also attended by the group's deputy heads Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli.

In the statement, local committees of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at all levels are urged to focus on the major obstructions to reform, which are holding back local development and are closely related to the people's immediate interests.

The statement called for precise and innovative measures based on detailed research and careful evaluation, stressing that "officials daring to reform should be promoted and those lacking the reform spirit should be demoted."

The system to award outstanding performance and punish underachievers should be improved, it added.