China's military sports forces to face major changes in new reform

China’s Central Military Commission has announced a plan to reform the military’s professional sports unit to make it more military-oriented rather than contest-oriented.

The announcement came at a mobilization conference where the commission unveiled a circular on reforming the military sports unit and a work plan to reform the Military Sports Training Center under the Training and Administration Department of the commission.

Major changes will take place in the functional orientation, scale and structure, and competition participation of military sports teams, according to the document issued on Tuesday.

The military sports forces should strengthen their functions to serve the troops, help improve combat capability and be more military-oriented.

The reform will retain military sports teams with distinct military features, but will no longer keep competitive sports teams with mass participation and abundant social resources.

The armed forces will no longer participate in the nation’s comprehensive sporting events or individual sports competitions but will take part in the Military World Games and individual events organized by the International Military Sports Council.

The reform is aimed at forming sports forces that match China’s goal of building a world-class military in all respects and meet the requirements of armed forces reforms, a Training and Administration Department official said.