As the law currently stands, parents may have two children only if both parents are only children, the Los Angeles Times reported. Under the declared revision of the law, families could have two children as long as one of the two parents is an only child. 

The one-child policy has been in place for decades, the New York Times reported. The government has declared that it will loosen the rule, but it hasn't officially done so yet. 

"Now it's just talking about launching this, but the specific policies have to be developed at the operational level," Wang Guangzhou, a demographer at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the New York Times. 

The Chinese government on Friday also pledged to discontinue the "reeducation through labor" program, the LA Times said. Under the program, people can be put in labor camps for up to four years without trial.

"We must certainly have the courage and conviction to renew ourselves," Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a statement released by China's official news agency, according to the New York Times.