Military starts campaign to promote frugality

BEIJING - The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has issued two regulations to promote frugality and oppose waste respectively in military officers' overseas trips and reception of foreign guests.

The two regulations were jointly issued by the PLA General Staff Headquarters and the PLA General Logistics Department, according to a report published on Thursday on the website of the PLA Daily.

Military delegations should submit the budget for overseas official visits and obtain approval from foreign affairs and financial authorities of their units before their trips, said the regulation on overseas tours.

The routes of the visits should be arranged to be both reasonable and economical and no deviation from the approved schedule is allowed.

Transportation and accommodation during overseas trips should be commensurate with the officers' rank and giving gifts other than characteristic army badges or knives is generally not allowed, the document said.

The other regulation on foreign guests' receptions said that army units should not issue invitations or promises without proper mandates or approval.

Hotel suites should only be provided to foreign officers at corps commander level or above while it should be arranged for others to live in standard rooms, according to the regulation.

The PLA headquarters said supervision and transparency of spending on these areas will be promoted and those who have violated the rules will be seriously punished.