China supports UN peacekeeping activities that conform to the UN Charter and has gradually increased its own participation since 1990, a Chinese general told Xinhua on Friday.
Major General Liu Pei, head of the Chinese delegation to the UN Military Staff Committee, made the statement to Xinhua in an exclusive interview, as the United Nations marked the annual International Day of Peacekeepers.
Since joining the UN special committee on peacekeeping operations in 1988, China has all along attached importance and rendered support to peacekeeping activities in accordance with the spirit of the UN Charter, Liu said.
In April 1990, China dispatched five military observers to the United Nations' Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), marking its debut in UN peacekeeping operations.
Since then, China has contributed 12,744 peacekeepers to 18 UN peacekeeping operations and 8 Chinese servicemen have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.
At present, there are 1,949 Chinese peacekeepers serving in 9 mission areas, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Lebanon and Sudan, Liu said.
While serving in UN peacekeeping missions, the Chinese military servicemen have always strictly followed their mandate and successfully fulfilled their duties, he noted.
They have won high acclaim from the United Nations and from the government and people of host nations for discipline, courage, professionalism and hard work, he said.
As the international situation continues to undergo profound and complicated changes, pockets of conflict and regional instability are presenting new challenges to the UN's peacekeeping missions, Liu noted.
Under the new circumstances, China will continue to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, faithfully implement its international obligations and actively participate in UN peacekeeping operations, thus making new contributions to the maintenance of world peace and stability, the general added.
