Civil Affairs Minister Visits Army HeadquartersOn the eve of the coming Spring Festival, Minister of Civil Affairs Doje Cering paid visits to the headquarters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) Friday.During his talks with PLA and PAP leading officers, which included Wang Ke and Xu Caihou, both members of the Central Military Commission, the minister thanked the armed forces for their contribution in safeguarding state sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as social stability and social development in the past year. Local governments and Party organizations at different levels also assisted the armed forces in their military training and drills, and donated 3 million books on science and technology, according to the minister. The official said that in 2000, local governments spent as much as 4.5 billion yuan to help disabled servicemen and family members of revolutionary martyrs and servicemen. In the whole ninth five- year plan period (1996-2000), 17.8 billion yuan was allocated for such help, he noted. Last year, governments at different levels paid more than 6 billion yuan in special subsidies for disabled servicemen and family members of revolutionary martyrs and servicemen. Between 1998-2000, 2.02 million retired soldiers and over 100, 000 retired PLA and PAP officers were resettled by governments at all levels, according to the official. |
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