People's Armed Police Force halts paid services

China's People's Armed Police Force said on Tuesday it has so far halted nearly 2,000 military-funded for-profit service projects, following an earlier order by the Central Military Commission.

The paramilitary force has halted 1,903 projects, including 375 medical cooperation projects and 1,434 real-estate leasing projects since the order was issued, Wang Bing, deputy commander of the People's Armed Police Force, said at a conference on Tuesday in Ji'nan, capital of East China's Shandong Province, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

According to Wang, servicemen and non-military personnel involved in the halted projects have been sent back to their original positions according to rules, and all staff hired specifically for these projects have had their contracts dissolved in accordance with law.

The conference called on all military forces to ensure they avoid participating in commercial activities, and wasting assets, said Xinhua.

China's Central Military Commission announced in March an end to all the services that the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force provide for profit.

The armed forces have since announced that all their hospitals have stopped outsourcing medial services, and that the management of military medical institutions will be further tightened in response to a high-profile case involving the death of a cancer patient in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

In April, Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old college student, died of a rare form of cancer after undergoing a clinically unproven treatment at a privately operated biomedical center under the Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps.

Following a public outcry over the scandal, China's health and military authorities jointly started an investigation, and in May, the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps halted all its external services.