Twenty-eight years ago today, on September 12, 1997 (August 11, 1997 in the lunar calendar), China announced that it would reduce another 500,000 troops. General Secretary Jiang Zemin announced in the report of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that on the basis of reducing the total number of troops by 1 million in 1980s, China will reduce the number of troops by another 500,000 in the next three years.