The campaign to terminate all paid services provided by the armed forces has been basically completed, and the goal that the military no longer engages in commercial activities has been basically achieved, according to a statement provided to Xinhua Wednesday.

Chinese soldiers salute at a national flag raising ceremony, in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province, on August 1, 2016. [File Photo: IC]

Praising the achievement as significant, it called for follow up efforts from both military and civilian sectors to push forward implementation.

Paid services, generally referring to those provided by the armed forces such as kindergartens, publishing services, and real estate rentals to the civilian sector, were flagged to be removed in late 2015 at a key conference on military reform of the Central Military Commission (CMC).

The timetable of the campaign were disclosed in a CMC circular in February 2016, which planned to gradually phase out such services in about three years.