PLA to assist ‘online dating’ banned Chinese troops find love

BEIJING - In an attempt to woo its soldiers, the People’s Liberation Army of China has promised to help its cadres find love, after the Government banned them from internet dating fearing that the lonely hearts might leak out classified information.

The new regulation, which came into force earlier this month, also bans soldiers from writing blogs or diaries online and from using Chinese social networking sites to make friends.

“Soldiers stationed on frontiers, for example in Tibet, have few opportunities to make contact with the outside world, but people with ulterior motives may make use of the soldiers’ personal information and pose a threat to the safety of the army,” The Telegraph quoted Yang Jigui, an officer at the Xigaze base in Tibet, as saying.

According to the paper, the base has already conducted a meeting to discuss how to find partners for its unmarried men through the local branch of the All China Women’s Federation, an NGO that supports women.

“The internet is complicated and we should guard against online traps,” said Wan Long, the political commissar of a regiment in Guangzhou. (ANI)