The corps must focus on efforts to boost its combat readiness, he said, stressing that training must be close to real battle situations and must make full use of scientific and technological elements.

Troops shall hone their capabilities to carry out joint combat operations and other kinds of tasks and shall be adept at using new hardware, he said.

Before the meeting, Xi visited a training session of the corps' engineering and anti-chemical warfare branch at a training field. He saw engineers operating heavy machines such as hoists, excavators and bridging equipment, and also checked drills on chemical countermeasures.

Members of the branch also showed him the deployment of remotely controlled robots.

The president talked with several equipment operators, encouraging them to train hard to foster their skills.

"Your skills have been very good but there is no end to improving them," Xi told the operators. "You shall continue training hard to get better prepared for modern warfare."

This is believed to be the first time for Xi to inspect the training of military engineers.

After becoming commander-in-chief of China's armed forces in late 2012, Xi has made several inspection tours to PAPF units, including those in Beijing and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The PAPF's predecessor－the Chinese People's Public Security Central Column－was set up in 1949, the year the People's Republic of China was founded, to take charge of internal security. In 1983, the PAPF was established through the merger of military units responsible for domestic security and police forces in charge of border defense and firefighting.