While Chinese President Xi Jinping's decision to end a one-child policy in place for more than three decades may appear bold, the move says more about the Communist Party's insecurity than its resolve to tackle economic problems.

By merely completing the shift to a nationwide "two-child policy" — a process that's been under way for years with lackluster results — the party demonstrated its reluctance to relinquish control over families in the world's most populous country.

The party communique announcing the change reaffirmed family planning as a basic national policy, despite long- standing calls by economists and demographers for more dramatic reforms to avoid population declines and complete China's transition to a developed economy.