China's top legislature Tuesday started discussing a draft amendment to the law on reserve officers aimed at strengthening the country's reserve forces.

The draft was submitted Tuesday for its first reading during the bimonthly meeting of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing.

The draft has provisions on the recruitment of reserve officers, modifies the retirement age for reserve officers and also amends provisions on incentives for reserve officers.

Li Jinai, member of the Central Committee Military Commission, said the amendment was needed as the country had gone through much change over the past decade.

"The draft took into account past experiences and also drew on the experiences of other countries," Li said, who is also director of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) General Political Department.

The current Reserve Officers Law was adopted in 1995 and took effect in 1996. < Lawmakers will also discuss a draft law on the protection of oil and natural gas pipelines, a draft amendment to the Administrative Supervision Law, a draft amendment to the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees, as well as a draft law on mediation.

Also on the agenda are reviews for the 2009 central budget submitted by the State Council, or Cabinet, an audit report of the budget, and reports on the implementation of the laws on the protection of women's rights and science and technology progress.

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