By Ding Wendong and Liu Pan
BEIRUT, Feb. 5 -- Recently, the 19th Chinese peacekeeping multi-functional engineer contingent to Lebanon completed the maintenance task in the most challenging section along the Blue Line within just three days.
The average slope of the steep mountains reaches 60 degrees, and some places are even straight up and down. Even worse, the safe path along the way has been covered with weeds and bushes.
Chinese peacekeeping engineers carried nearly 150 kilograms of work equipment, used tools such as pruning shears, saws, and machete to clear the road. Blocked by cliffs, they could only use ropes to slowly move to the bottom of the valley where the boundary markers are located.
Normally, a team can complete the maintenance of one or two boundary markers in a day. However, in such a formidable task section, it takes three days for the peacekeepers to complete the maintenance of one boundary marker. They cleaned up the vegetation and debris around the boundary marker on the first day, and painted and refurbished the boundary marker, repaired the bellows-shaped wire netting, and replaced warning signs.
It is learnt that as a temporary border between Lebanon and Israel, the "Blue Line" is 121 kilometers along the route and is formed by more than 300 boundary markers. The 19th Chinese peacekeeping multi-functional engineer contingent to Lebanon has completed the maintenance tasks of about 70 passages and 70 boundary markers with high standards in less than 40 working days, winning appreciation from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
