A nationwide teleconference held Thursday publicized a June 15 order by Hu calling on government and military officials to secure proper jobs in the civil sector for the demobilized officers, the People's Daily reported.

The order appeared to be part of a plan to cut the People's Liberation Army (PLA) by 500,000 troops to around 1.85 million soldiers over the next five years.

According to reports, this was first announced by Hu in a May 26 speech on military modernization.

"All military experts and officials should ... maintain political character, follow orders of the overall situation, make allowances for local difficulties (and) bravely march to work on the frontline of grassroots construction," Hu was quoted as saying.

He urged the demobilized officers "to make new contributions" to China's reform and opening policies and modernization.

Reducing the size of the PLA, the world's largest standing army, will cut tremendous costs in feeding, training and lodging conscripts and better allow the PLA to fulfill its mandate of "winning a local war under high tech conditions," analysts have said.

Hu, who was named head of the Communist Party last November and state president in March, replaced former party head and president Jiang Zemin as China's top leader.

Jiang, however, has continued to wield political influence by maintaining the chairmanship of the powerful Central Military Commission, of which Hu is one of three vice chairmen.

"Comrade Jiang Zemin has made a series of important statements and directives to confirm the basic principles in the work of transferring military experts," General Xu Caihou, PLA political commissar, was quoted by the paper as saying.

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