The Headquarters of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) plans to beef-up education and training of non-commissioned officers in the country.

That's according to a document, titled "Some Ideas on Further Developing the Group of Non-commissioned Officers".

The decree was issued to all units of the PLA and the Chinese People's Armed Police Forces (PAPF). It has been approved by Hu Jintao, chairman of the Central Military Commission, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and state president.

China had been trying to reform how non-commissioned officers were trained. According to press release issued Monday, non-commissioned officers will now be selected in a democratic way.

An independent educational system will be set up for training non-commissioned officers while preferential policies will be adopted for petty officers regarding their marital affairs, social security, and housing.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2008)