Chinese armed police have begun to wear new uniforms since May 1, in an effort to help them carry out varied missions.

The regular type of the new uniforms, namely "Uniform 05" which was designed in 2005, used better materials, have more sizes, and made slight changes on chest-waist length, although their color, style and ornament are quite similar to the old "Uniform 87", according to a source with the armed police's logistics headquarter.

Besides regular uniforms, more changes have been added to new training suits with more complicated camouflage patterns, replacing the old dark green ones. The suits were designed in 2001, the source said.

In addition, the armed police will wear new shoes with carefully-designed soles that can reduce friction and intake few sands and mud, said Man Xiangdong, an official with the police equipment research institute under the logistics headquarter.

The armed police stationing on plateaus were provided with highly anti-freeze uniforms, said Zhai Fuming, another official with the armed police logistics headquarter.

He said China's armed police now have three kinds of uniforms, the protocol-focused regular uniforms, the combat suits with self-protecting functions, and the specialized uniforms for soldiers performing missions in bad weather and difficult living conditions.

He said the army will focus on designing anti-terrorism combat uniforms and official protocol uniforms this year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2006)