SOLDIERS PRACTICE WITH SHIELDS AND BATONS IN BEIJING, 1999-10-13 (photo)

Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers practice maneuvers with batons and shields in their barracks in central Beijing October 13. The Chinese military completed the task of reducing troop strength by 1 million at the end of the 1980s. At the end of 1997, Chinese President Jiang Zemin urged the military to reduce this by a further 500,000 so as to economize the limited military expenditure and vigorously develop military science and technology; at the same time the military was completely extricated from commercial activities. A series of phenomena have shown that Jiang has taken a substantive step in reforming the Chinese military. NB/PB