The PLA Daily reported that Sun Sijing, Political Commissar of the People's Armed Police Force (PAPF) and a Deputy to the National People’s Congress, proposed a legal amendment on March  that would clear the way for the changes and ensure that the PAPF's highest power of command was “firmly in the hands of the Communist Party’s central leadership, the CMC and [CMC] Chairman Xi”. The PLA Daily added that the amendment has been under discussion since last June. Speaking to the South China Morning Post on the sidelines of an NPC session yesterday, Sun Sijing said the armed police were increasingly being used for disaster relief and maritime law enforcement operations and that their expanding duties should be defined in law. Experts said Sun’s proposal was a result of incidents that stemmed from the complex leadership of the force.