BEIJING: China on Friday released a white paper on the participation of the country’s armed forces in the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations. The white paper, titled “China’s Armed Forces: 30 Years of UN Peacekeeping Operations,” was released by the State Council Information Office.
It is the first white paper issued by the Chinese government on Chinese armed forces’ participation in the UN peacekeeping operations, said Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, at a press conference following the release of the document.
Serving on the UN missions for world peace, China’s armed forces have become a key force in UN peacekeeping operations over the past three decades, says the document. China’s armed forces have sent over 40,000 peacekeepers to 25 UN peacekeeping missions over the past 30 years, it says. Chinese peacekeepers have left their footprints in over 20 countries and regions including Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus, South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic.
They have made a tremendous contribution to facilitating the peaceful settlement of disputes, safeguarding regional security and stability, and promoting economic and social development in host nations, the document says.
China has faithfully implemented the pledges it announced at a UN Summit to support UN peacekeeping through actions including setting up a peacekeeping standby force, sending more enabler troops to UN peacekeeping operations, helping train foreign peacekeepers and providing military aid gratis to the African Union, it says. – Agencies
