BEIJING - The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has published its first list of military equipment suppliers as an endeavor to expand reforms concerning the procurement of the military equipment.

The publication of the list is also intended to allow civil manufacturers to join in bidding procedures for orders from military clients, said a source from the PLA General Armament Department.

"The procurement reforms of the PLA are aimed at introducing competition among suppliers and improving the overall quality of the military's equipment," said the source.

The Central Military Commission, led by Hu Jintao, who is also the state president and general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has been pushing for military equipment procurement reforms as part of a larger government procurement reform effort.

Before working out the list, the PLA General Armament Department has been assessing the qualifications of companies that have applied for military equipment manufacturing contracts since 2005, in accordance with a raft of decrees including the Government Procurement Law and the Regulations on the Procurement of Military Equipment.

The catalog is composed of over 1,600 suppliers, of which, civil manufacturers make up 900.