President Jiang Zemin yesterday emphasized the need for the country's armed forces to hone and improve their skills to both better serve the nation and prepare for a changing world situation.

During panel discussions with deputies to the ongoing 10th National People's Congress (NPC) session, China's top legislature, Jiang said that all staff of the PLA must comprehensively promote its defence capability in line with rapidly changing technological innovation.

Jiang, also chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), joined the discussion together with Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

He said China would seek to complete the task of further modernizing the army, particularly in the area of military high-tech, by the middle of this century and also seek to recruit and train more high calibre and highly educated personnel.

Joining in discussions with deputies from Chongqing Municipality, Li Peng, chairman of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee, turned to the subject of China's legal system. He said although a system which included specific Chinese characteristics had primarily been established, more effort was needed to improve the legal system in concert with the development of both the economy and society.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Wu Bangguo, Huang Ju, Li Changchun and Luo Gan also joined the panel discussions of deputies from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sichuan, Liaoning and Hunan provinces yesterday.

(China Daily)