Some 700 soldiers from the ninth Chinese Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion in Juba, South Sudan, receive the United Nations Peace Medal of Honour in recognition of their services in the African country in September last year. ZHAO JIANYI/XINHUA

By JIANG CHENGLONG 

In the same year that China celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, 700 of its soldiers stationed over 8,000 kilometers away from the motherland in South Sudan have been awarded for their contributions to the cause of world peace.

The soldiers of the 10th Chinese Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion in Juba, South Sudan, were awarded the United Nations Peace Medal of Honour during a ceremony at the Chinese camp of the UN Mission in South Sudan last month.

At the entrance of the camp, two flags are prominently displayed: the red National Flag of China and the blue flag of the UN. An accompanying banner in Chinese read: "Fulfilling the responsibility of a major power, upholding the mission of peace."

According to China's Ministry of National Defense, since the battalion's deployment last December, it has completed over 150 mandated tasks under the UN mission's command, including security duties, armed patrols and emergency response operations.

It has also actively engaged in humanitarian aid activities such as medical outreach, donating over 10,000 items of humanitarian aid materials locally.

Li Jian, a peacekeeper in the battalion, said that although their mission was coming to an end, the mission of maintaining world peace is ongoing.

"We will remember our original intentions, cherish our honor, and continue to uphold our positions with the highest standards to bring this peacekeeping mission to a successful conclusion, never failing the trust of our country and people," he told China Media Group.

Li is just one of nearly 2,000 Chinese soldiers currently participating in UN peacekeeping missions worldwide.

Zhang Junshe, a former researcher at the People's Liberation Army's Naval Research Academy, said that over the past 30 years, China's involvement in UN peacekeeping operations has demonstrated its commitment as a responsible major power, and its determination and desire to maintain world peace.

International public good

In 1990, China first took part in UN peacekeeping operations by sending five military observers to Egypt and Syria for missions organized by the UN Truce Supervision Organization, which is headquartered in Jerusalem.

Since then, the Chinese military has dispatched over 50,000 personnel to participate in UN peacekeeping operations in more than 20 countries and regions, according to the Defense Ministry.

Currently, China is the second-largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget and the top contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, with nearly 2,000 Chinese troops serving in six peacekeeping missions.

At the UN peacekeeping summit in 2015, President Xi Jinping announced six measures that China would take to support these operations. All six measures have been fully implemented, including establishing a standby peacekeeping force of 8,000 troops, offering 20 training programs to over 1,500 peacekeepers from more than 60 countries, and sending 25 rotations of engineer and medical units totaling 7,001 troops to missions in Africa and Asia.

Zhao Lei, deputy director of the International Strategy Research Institute at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, emphasized that peacekeeping is China's contribution to the international public good in the security domain.

"Unlike the military forces of the United States, NATO and others, which have indeed caused conflicts and wars in many regions, the PLA soldiers, wearing the UN blue helmets, carry out peacekeeping missions in conflict areas," he said. "We do not start wars. We stop them."

Nicholas Haysom, UN secretary-general's special representative and head of the UN mission in South Sudan, was quoted by China Media Group as saying that in South Sudan, the Chinese peacekeeping battalion has consistently fulfilled its mandate to bring lasting peace to the people of South Sudan, and added that Chinese peacekeepers' contributions have been immeasurable.

Chinese navy vessels conduct a drill against pirates during their escort mission in the waters near the Gulf of Aden and Somalia in May 2020. JIANG XIA/XINHUA

Strong will, capabilities

Zhou Bo, a senior fellow at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy, said that the UN's primary task is to maintain world peace, and stressed that China has a unique advantage as a participant in the peacekeeping operations.

" (This participation) combines high-quality equipment, disciplined personnel and a strong political will to maintain peace," said Zhou, who is also the former director of the Center for Security Cooperation at the Office for International Military Cooperation of the Central Military Commission. "These three elements only occur together in the Chinese military."

In mid-September, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun emphasized in his speech at the opening of the 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, that the Chinese military actively fulfills its international responsibilities as a major power's armed forces and is willing to work with militaries from other countries to build peace and share the future.

"China is ready to engage in cooperation on escort missions, counterterrorism and peacekeeping with other nations, providing highlevel defense and security cooperation to safeguard high-quality development," he said.

Gilles Carbonnier, vice-president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that China, as a world-leading power and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is playing an important role in world affairs.

China is an important contributor to peacekeeping, he said, noting that in these domains Red Cross and Chinese officials can develop dialogues.

"We welcome China's engagement in support of humanitarianism and international humanitarian law. It is very important," Carbonnier said.

Zhao Xiaozhuo, a retired PLA senior colonel, noted that China is one of the few countries able to effectively carry out peacekeeping missions, thanks to its strong and comprehensive capabilities.

"Chinese peacekeeping forces undertake a significant amount of front-line work, mainly in security, engineering, transportation and medical units. Therefore, they also contribute to local development by improving infrastructure and medical conditions," said Zhao, who served in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2001 to 2002.

"Our military has become stronger, and we also hope to do our part to make the world a better place," he said.

Naval escort missions

Beyond participating in UN peacekeeping operations, the PLA also contributes to world peace in other ways, including sending its advanced hospital ship Peace Ark to provide free medical services to less-developed countries and dispatching naval vessels to escort merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden and through Somali waters.

Since December 2008, when the first Chinese naval escort task force set sail from Sanya, Hainan province, to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, China has dispatched 46 escort task forces, involving over 150 ships and more than 35,000 officers and soldiers, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

Chinese escort task forces have safely escorted over 7,200 Chinese and overseas vessels in more than 1,600 passages and rescued nearly 100 ships, with foreign vessels accounting for over 50 percent.

Zhang, the former PLA researcher, pointed out that each Chinese escort task force typically comprises two combat ships and one supply ship, which he said is of a "substantial scale" compared to other nations' escort forces in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters.

Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said at a news conference in December that the 15 years of escort missions in the Gulf of Aden have demonstrated the mission and responsibility of naval officers and soldiers to embrace the world and safeguard peace.

"In missions such as repelling pirates, emergency evacuations and humanitarian aid, the Chinese Navy has embodied the concept of building both human and maritime communities with a shared future, actively contributing to safeguarding national overseas interests and the security of international maritime routes," he said.