China's potential economic growth rate in the next five years is expected to be in the range of 6.5-6.6 percent as long as China continues to advance structural reform to unleash growth impetus, according to a leading university research paper.

Besides reshaping the relationship between the market and the government, structural reform should focus on the financial sector and factor market, strengthening product standards, market supervision and establishing a national innovation system, said Liu Fengliang, professor with the Economic School of Renmin University of China, the major compiler of the report.

Innovation-driven development should be the core of China's new growth impetus, said Liu, adding that private investment in equipment, modern agriculture, upgraded manufacturing and high-quality opening-up will all be major sources of new growth impetus.

China's economic growth held steady at 6.7 percent in the second quarter, the lowest level since the 2009 global financial crisis but still within the government's target range of 6.5-7 percent for 2016.

Amid downward economic pressure, China has resisted the temptation of temporary fixes like aggressive monetary easing. Instead, it chose structural reform as the tool to put the economy on a more sustainable path.

To push supply-side structural reform, the country prioritized the tackling of industrial overcapacity, reduction of housing inventories, deleveraging to defuse financial risks and lowering companies' financing costs.