Demobilized military officers gathered to petition for settlements

By Han Jie, Boxun

Oct 28, 2009 – 12:48:02 PM

Hundreds of demobilized military officers from different provinces gathered in front of the General Political Department on Monday to petition the government for settling their retirement issues. Representative of the department said the office would welcome conversations between the two parties but also stated clearly that only high-ranking officers were eligible for the talks. On the other hand, the involved military officers requested an immediate release of their fellow petitioners who had been arrested on the 25th in Beijing.

Demobilized officers were considered as an unique group of people under the general veteran category because the team emerged in 1933 and existed till 1999; they were once described as trial products of military’s retirement reform policies.

There are around 23000 demobilized soldiers and officers around the country. Unlike other veterans who have favorable welfares, each decommissioned officer only lives on a one-time compensation payment government issued to him or her when he or she retired from the army. Not to mention how tight the compensations were; just with all the inflations happen each year, it’s not hard to imagine what kinds of difficulties they are experiencing.

Full article in Chinese at http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2009/10/200910261259.shtml