BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping underscored that the duty of providing demobilized military officers with civilian jobs was a political task, and was closely linked to national defense and military reform.

Xi made the comments during a speech given to a recent top leadership meeting, which was conveyed by Zhao Leji, head of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's organization department, at the 2016 national conference on employment of demobilized officers on Tuesday.

Xi, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), called for greater support and care for demobilized military officers and improving working mechanism, which would help transfer them to civilian posts and assist the ongoing reform push.