Xi Jinping bestows military honors

BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- In his role as chairman of the central Military Commission, Xi Jinping has signed orders to give honorary titles to two military units for their outstanding services.

Troop 77656 is now titled as a "model plateau battalion" for its outstanding performance in safeguarding borders, ensuring stability and helping disaster relief, according to a statement Sunday.

Navy Submarine 372 was honored as a "model submarine" for performing marine missions with excellence.

The whole armed forces were urged to learn from both examples.

In a separate statement also released Sunday, Xi signed orders to award merit citations to four military units and 15 persons for outstanding services.

Troop 66114 was given a first-class merit citation for its outstanding contribution to completing tasks, and units 91515, 94669 and 96261 were given second-class merit citations for their outstanding performance in strengthening fighting capacity.

Chen Deming, a researcher from unit 63620, was awarded a first-class merit citation. Two others were given posthumous first-class merit citations.

Twelve individuals, including research fellows, engineers and medical staff, were honored with third-class merit citations.