By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-21 07:13

The nation has reaffirmed its commitment to United Nations peacekeeping operations by expanding its training center for police peacekeepers - the announcement coinciding with the world body's call for more Chinese involvement.

The China Police Peacekeeper Training Center in Langfang, Hebei Province, will be expanded to 23 hectares from 13 hectares, Guo Baoshan, deputy director of the international cooperation bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, said Tuesday.

He told visiting UN Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations Jean-Marie Guehenno that the 100 million yuan ($13 million) expansion is designed to train anti-riot police teams while the existing base will be used for the training of civil police officers.

He said the new base will have special training facilities such as a shooting range and a driving area.

"The training capacity will be greatly increased," Guo said. The center is now able to train about 200 officers at a time.

Ministry figures show that China has 177 police peacekeepers serving under the UN flag, of whom 125 are anti-riot police officers in Haiti. In addition, 1,573 soldiers and 69 observers are working as UN peacekeepers, pushing the total number of Chinese peacekeepers to 1,819.

China is the second largest contributor of UN peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

However, Guo said the ballooning demand from the UN is testing China's training capacity.

Guehenno said the UN wants China to increase its contribution because of the excellent performance of Chinese peacekeepers.

"China's participation in UN peacekeeping operations shows that China wants to contribute directly to world peace and security. That has been noticed by countries around the world," Guehenno said.

"As the demand for peacekeeping is increasing, we hope that China, as the biggest country in the world (in population terms)... can increase even more its contribution with specialized and professional units."