Xi urges army's implementation of 'mass line'

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made instructions to the army, calling for further implementation of China's "mass line" guideline. According to a statement issued by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Thursday, Xi, also chairman of the Central Military Commission, said in the instruction that the armed forces achieved much in the first phase of the "mass line" campaign. The "mass line" initiative was launched in June 2013, with the aim of making government more accessible to the general population, while cleaning up four undesirable work styles -- formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance. Xi warned against any recurrence of the problems that have been rectified, calling for continued efforts to implement the campaign to a higher standard and with problem-based methodology in the second phase, launched recently. The leading group in charge of the campaign for the army asked all levels in the military system to learn Xi's instruction and study implementation measures based on realities. The second phase of the campaign should focus on bad practices affecting soldiers, and solve problems that lead to inadequate services for the grassroots, the leading group said.