PLA slashes commercial activities

The People's Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force have halted 40 percent of their commercial activities as part of the ongoing military reform, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Decommercialization efforts will now focus on five fields - house rentals, agricultural and livestock production, hospitality services, medical services, and research and development - the report said on Tuesday.

Governments in provincial-level regions, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing and Guangdong, have set up interdepartmental teams to work with military authorities to push forward the efforts, it said, adding that most business owners who rented houses from or used commercial services of the military received local government assistance.