China’s 57 million military veterans in line for better support with new dedicated civil service ranks
- China is for the first time training public officials to serve ex-service personnel, as permanent civil servants under the Ministry of Veterans Affairs
- Six pilot zones have held training and graduation ceremonies for new team of officials tasked with managing vast network of veterans’ service centres
This is the first time that China is training public officials to cater specifically to ex-service personnel. Working under the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, the specialists will be permanent civil servants tasked with managing the vast network of veterans’ service centres countrywide.
The pilot zones include the city of Ordos in China’s northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region, as well as Shanghai’s Pudong district, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and Quanzhou in Fujian province to the east. The remaining two are Guiyang in southwestern Guizhou province and Wuzhong in northwestern Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
All six held training and graduation ceremonies for the first batch of veterans affairs specialists in recent weeks, online posts by local government agencies said.
Addressing the programme’s launch ceremony in Ordos on July 8, veterans affairs vice-minister Ma Feixiong said the graduating pilot team would offer “an innovative way to promote the efficiency of the service for veterans’ support”.
“It answers the practical needs of improving the ability and quality of grass-roots staff and [will] stabilise and expand the workforce. It will definitely provide effective assistance to promote the high-quality development of veterans’ work,” Ma was quoted as saying by local media.