The first group of officers from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has graduated after a year 's specialized study in psychological warfare undertaken in an army school, and marking a significant step in the building of PLA 's psychwar army.

The officials graduated from the Xi'an Political Institute of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in northwest China's Shaanxi Province and were recruited from the PLA's land, sea and air troops.

Ma Zhong, director of the Institute of Psywar of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said psychological techniques to confuse the enemy are one of the three principal guidelines introduced by the Late Chairman Mao Zedong.

Modern psywar has now penetrated political, economic and diplomatic fields which have connections with the military, said Ma.

Approved by the Central Military Commission, the Xi'an Political Institute of the Chinese People's Liberation Army first set up the PLA psywar education research office in 1999. The first PLA Psywar Institute was founded last year.

According to Wu Jincang, dean of the Psywar Department with the school in Xi'an, China's specialized psywar training has seven courses which include military psychology, social psychology, psywar in high-tech warfare, soldier psychology and the theory and practice of psywar.