Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for troop reduction

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for further downsizing the country's huge military.

He hopes that it would boost combat capabilities of the world's largest military.

Currently, the troop size is 2.3 million soldiers.

The development comes after China moved to cut 300,000 troops last year.

Xi, who is also the chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks at a two-day conference on military reform.

China's military needs to focus more on technology rather than on troop strength, PTI quoted Xi as saying.

"This is a major, inevitable change. We must seize the opportunity and make breakthrough," he said.

The troop reduction, fourth since 1980s, is expected to take place next year.