Landmark anniversary

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War, and is also the 35th anniversary of China's participation in UN peacekeeping operations.

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 sent over 50,000 personnel to participate in UN peacekeeping operations in more than 20 countries and regions, including the DR Congo, Lebanon, and South Sudan, according to the Ministry of National Defense. A total of 17 Chinese peacekeepers have paid the ultimate price on these missions.

China is currently the second-largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget. Among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, it is the top contributor of peacekeepers, 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 engineering and medical units, totaling about 7,000 troops, to missions in Africa and Asia.

Atia Ali Kazmi, director for Global and Regional Studies at the Institute for Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis in Pakistan, said that the PLA brings several distinct advantages to UN peacekeeping. Its logistics strength, rapid deployment capabilities and disciplined force structure make the PLA an efficient contributor and operator in complex environments, she added.

"China's principled commitment to sovereignty, noninterference, and multilateralism lends credibility and balance to UN operations, especially in politically sensitive missions," she said.

The PLA's growing investment in medical, engineering, and explosives-handling support, further enhances its peacekeeping value compared with traditional Western contributors, she added.