China plans to send a contingent of peacekeeping troops to Lebanon and is consulting the United Nations on the details, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday.

The spokesman gave no details but French President Jacques Chirac, whose country is a key player in the U.N. deployment, suggested that China's contribution may number around 1,000.

"We have a plan to send peacekeeping troops. We're consulting with the United Nations on the specific arrangements and will duly announce the outcome," spokesman Liu Jianchao told Reuters.

He was speaking in Helsinki after an Asia-Europe summit attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Around 200 Chinese engineers already work for the United Nations in Lebanon clearing mines and unexploded ordnance. The U.N. peacekeeping force is being expanded to uphold a shaky truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

Chirac, who was also at the meeting, said Wen had mentioned the plan for more troops in Helsinki.

"Indeed the premier announced yesterday that beyond the 240 Chinese soldiers that are already there in Lebanon clearing mines, they would send a not inconsiderable contribution, because 1,000 men have been mentioned," he told a news conference.

GROWING IN CONFIDENCE

China, growing in confidence on the global stage, has become increasingly involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations since 2000. At the end of 2005 it had been involved in over 20 U.N. missions including in Afghanistan, East Timor and Haiti.

The Chinese announcement came two days after Wen pressed European Union leaders to lift an arms embargo in force since Beijing used troops to crush pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989.

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia would send troops to Lebanon to help rebuild it after the conflict with Israel.

Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri has condemned United Nations forces in Lebanon as "enemies of Islam", the first implicit threat against the peacekeeping detachment.

Israel invaded south Lebanon after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross border raid on July 12. The conflict killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilian, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers. A truce brokered by the United Nations halted the war on August 14.