China's armed forces belong to the people

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-20 14:03

China's armed forces belong to the people, said a white paper on China's National Defense in 2008 issued on Tuesday.

The white paper, issued by the Information Office of the State Council, says it is an important task for the armed forces to take part in national development and disaster relief as stipulated by the Constitution and laws.

"The PLA, PAPF and the militia are the task force in emergency rescue and disaster relief operations," said the paper.

In the past two years the PLA and the PAPF have dispatched a total of 600,000 troops/time, employed 630,000 vehicles (or machines)/time of various types, flown over 6,500 sorties (including the use of helicopters), mobilized 1.39 million militiamen and reserve forces/time, participated in over 130 disaster relief operations in cases of floods, earthquakes, snowstorms, typhoons and fires, and rescued or evacuated a total of 10 million people.

During the freezing weather in January 2008 in large areas of southern China, the PLA and the PAPF undertook urgent, difficult, dangerous and heavy tasks, such as clearing major lines of communication, rescuing victims and restoring power supply.

During the massive earthquake in Sichuan Province, the PLA and the PAPF deployed 146,000 troops, mobilized 75,000 militiamen and reservists, flew over 4,700 sorties (including the use of helicopters) and employed 533,000 vehicles/time in the relief effort. They rescued 3,338 survivors, evacuated 1.4 million local residents, and transported, airlifted and air-dropped 1.574 million tons of relief materials. They sent 210 teams of medical workers, psychotherapists, and sanitation and epidemic prevention specialists, and treated 1.367 million injured people.

During the Beijing Olympic Games, the main responsibilities of the PLA were to ensure the air security of venues in and outside Beijing and the maritime security of Olympic venues in coastal and neighboring areas; take part in the handling of terrorist incidents such as NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) terrorist attacks and explosions; provide intelligence support; organize emergency rescue, medical aid and helicopter transportation; and strengthen border administration and control during the Olympics.

The PAPF contributed 85,000 troops to Olympic security work, appropriately handled nearly 300 incidents which might have endangered guarded targets, and confiscated over 9,000 prohibited items and over 140,000 limited items.

The white paper, the sixth of its kind the Chinese government issued since 1998, gives an overall picture of China's national defense ranging from the security environment, national defence policy, to defense expenditure and arms control.