Chinese UN Peacekeepers Safeguard World Peace

ON April 8, 2015 an infantry contingent from China arrived in South Sudan. This was the last batch of the 700-member Chinese infantry battalion designated for UN peacekeeping missions there, China’s first, marking a new stage of its participation in UN peacekeeping deployment.

An Active Helper

The UN aims to defend peace in the spirit of the UN Charter via peacekeeping operations. China, a permanent member of the Security Council, is committed to world peace and security, and supports and participates with great zeal in peacekeeping missions that are in line with the UN Charter.

In the 25 years since April 1990, when it first sent five military observers to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in the Middle East, China has steadily expanded its presence in UN peacekeeping operations, and the troops it has dispatched have become more diversified.

Initially confined to the Middle East, Chinese peacekeepers are now found in 11 regions around the world. Their formation has grown from the original singularity of engineers to a compound of engineering, transport, and infantry troops, military doctors, military observers, and military consultants. In 2013, China for the first time dispatched a security force to Mali, and then in 2015, the first full infantry battalion was sent to South Sudan. Both were historic events in China’s involvement in UN peacekeeping missions. It now contributes 2,720 peacekeepers to the UN, and the number is expected to rise to 3,100 by the end of 2015.

So far, China has participated in 24 UN peacekeeping missions, including nine of the 16 ongoing at present. Its accumulative contribution of troops, at 30,178, is the seventh largest among all contributing countries, and the largest among permanent members of the Security Council. China is also the No.1 source of support personnel, such as doctors and technicians. What’s more, the country shoulders the sixth largest share of peacekeeping expenses among all UN members, and the largest in the developing world. It is no exaggeration to say that China is a mainstay of the UN’s peacekeeping efforts and a strong contributor to world peace.

Chinese Soldiers Recognized Globally

Chinese peacekeeping troops display high professionalism and extraordinary efficiency despite facing demanding tasks and tough conditions. In Cambodia, the Chinese engineering team finished the construction of a bridge within one day. In Liberia, the Chinese transport contingent’s services covered the whole country. In Mali, where the ground temperature soared to 50 °C at times, Chinese technicians built a large hospital within four months. In southern Lebanon, Chinese soldiers detected and defused 8,779 land mines and bombs over five years, including 6,000 or more bomblets of cluster munitions, without incurring a single injury or casualty. When the civil war reached full force in Syria and local airports were jeopardized, for 10 hours non-stop Chinese officers scanned the documents of 150 international observers stationed in the region to facilitate visa issuance and evacuation via Lebanon.

While performing their duties Chinese peacekeepers conscientiously abide by UN rules and local laws, sustaining a spotless record of nil discipline/law violations and repatriations. A 2009 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) acclaimed that the Chinese force as the most professional, efficient, disciplined and best trained among all UN peacekeepers, concluding that its positive image enhanced the integrity of UN peacekeeping missions.

With their faith in equality, openness, and inclusiveness, Chinese peacekeepers respect and support their counterparts from other countries, and the cultural and religious traditions of local communities. When its engineering team renovated barracks in Lebanon formerly occupied by Ukrainian and Nepalese peacekeepers, they kept intact the religious murals left behind by their Ukrainian peers and a monument to fallen Nepalese soldiers, a considerate move highly praised by the military of the two countries. In various countries in Africa, Chinese peacekeepers have built a cordial and equal relationship with local residents, winning their trust and respect.

The Chinese military has traditionally fostered a close relationship with the people, and so it does in peacekeeping operations. While staying out of local politics, Chinese peacekeepers throw themselves into post-war rebuilding in host countries, contributing substantially to local social and economic development. The Chinese medical team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, carried out an aid campaign for local hard-up primary schools, sanitizing public spaces and handing out free medicines. The operation was covered by the local TV station. They also initiated a partnership with an SOS children’s village, which has been renewed with the rotation of garrisons.

After the Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2014, Chinese peacekeepers in Liberia raced against time to build an Ebola treatment center, working more than 16 hours every day and completing the facility one month ahead of schedule. It was the first of its kind built by foreign aid in the country. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf lauded Chinese peacekeepers as the emissary of friendship from the Chinese people and army.

UN Recognition

Chinese peacekeepers put their lives on the line during their assignment to conflict zones, igniting the hope of life amid the dead of war. To date, 10 of them have been killed on duty.

According to the Peacekeeping Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense, since 1990, Chinese peacekeepers have built and repaired roads totaling more than 11,000 km and 300-plus bridges, disposed of 9,400 land mines and other explosive devices, received 149,000 patients (person-times), and transported 1.1 million tons of supplies over a total distance of 12 million kilometers, equivalent to circumnavigating the earth 300 times.

On August 28, 2007, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Major-General Zhao Jingmin new Force Commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara, making him the first Chinese senior commander in a UN peacekeeping mission. The move was seen as recognition by the organization of China’s active role in international mediation and as a testament to the competence of Chinese military staff.

Towards the end of Zhao’s term in April 2011, Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye, military adviser for UN peacekeeping operations, wrote a letter of commendation, saying that Zhao had displayed outstanding leadership and profound understanding of local conditions during his years on the job. He highlighted Zhao’s aptitude for communication and cooperation with conflicting parties, which successfully reduced their violations of ceasefire pacts from 966 occasions in 2007 to 84 in 2010.

Following these examples, more Chinese officers are donning the blue helmet and taking the solemn pledge to defend world peace with their lives. A staunch supporter and active participant of UN peacekeeping missions, China will continue to perform its duty to the well-being of humankind.