More and more ex-officers have chosen to join the private sector
since 2001, the year the government partially abandoned the
decades-old practice of job assignment for all former army officers
upon their retirement, according to the headquarters of the Chinese
People's Liberation Army (PLA).
This year, 42,000 PLA officers will retire, and 13,000 of them are
expected to be employed by private companies, while in 2001 and
2002, the numbers of former army officers to work in private firms
stood at 8,000 and 11,000 respectively.
In
the past, all retired officers were hired by government
institutions or state-owned enterprises, but the booming private
businesses over the past two decades have created new job
opportunities for these former service people, thus easing a heavy
load for the government.
However, the government has offered officers at the ranks of
battalion and regiment leader the freedom to choose between being
assigned a government job by the government or looking for a job by
themselves. Those who are willing to find a job by their own
efforts will be paid a monthly allowance, enough for fundamental
daily needs, and allowed to start their own business or be employed
by a private company.
The government has issued many preferential policies to encourage
former officers to enter the private sector, such as a three-year
tax exemption and conveniences in obtaining bank loans and
registering a company.
For the past few years, some ex-officers have been very successful
in running their own businesses. Xie Lan, a former teacher in the
army, first found a job in a Singaporean real estate company after
leaving the army, and later, she started her own firm. The former
captain has sponsored a series of successful cultural shows at home
and abroad.
Major Li Jianming, of a telecommunications brigade at the PLA's
Beijing Military Area Command, told Xinhua that the preferential
policies have received a warm welcome among the service people.
This year, 10 retiring officers in his unit have chosen to work in
private firms, compared to one in 2001 and five in 2002.
(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2003)
