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Tang Xiuting is the political commissar of the headquarters of Chinese People's Armed Police Force's gold troops. He and his men have been looking for gold for the country in the West Regions. A delegate to the CPC 16th National Congress, Tang fully understands the PLA's function in China's modernization drive, which Jiang Zemin, the former general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, emphasized in his report to the congress. Tang said proudly, "Proofs of Chinese soldiers' merits in developing the west can be seen everywhere."
General Tang listed the achievements his troops have made in the past three years. "Two things should be mentioned," he said. "One is that our troops located a super-scale gold mine in southern Gansu Province; the other is that our army men successfully fulfilled their mission in Tibet in the 1990s. Despite the hardships and complicated conditions, there was not a single casualty, nor any runaway case. Working together with the local residents, the officers and soldiers made their contribution to the development of the west."
Tang stressed the importance of applying hi-tech and training talented officers in building the army. "In the new era of opening up, there is no way for the PLA to keep its own doors closed," he said. "We insist that science should take the lead in our work of looking for gold mines. Now we have an experts' team consisting of senior, middle-aged and young scientists. We are also the only institute in China devoted to gold-related geological research," said Tang.
(People's Daily translated by James Liu for china.org.cn)
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