More than 500 air marshals who completed basic training will soon be assigned by the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security to pursue the common mission of providing security for the civil aviation industry, officially becoming China's first batch of air marshals.

The officiating ceremony of this first batch of air marshals will be held at China Southern Airline in early July. Nearly 400 in this batch were hired as China Southern's flight security staff after passing a rigorous screening, with the remaining 100 recruited from the rest of society.

After completing their training course, these air marshals will receive their official commission and will travel incognito on various civilian flights.

Equipped with advanced weaponry, they will strike back at different terrorist activities that target civilian airlines.

To build a high-quality air marshal force, and provide security to the nation's civil airline industry, in accordance with principles of "open, equal, competitive, merit," China's Ministry of Personnel and the Civil Aviation Administration of China will soon jointly sponsor exams to recruit more air marshals.

Sources revealed that this upcoming exam will hire 475 air marshals. Potential recruits are primarily 2005 graduates of regular institutions of higher learning and others who qualify for the position.
 
(Chinanews.cn June 23, 2005)