China boosts UN peacekeeping role

China said through its envoy to the United Nations that it would continue contributing to building UN peacekeeping capacity and honor its commitment to world peace with concrete action.

Addressing an open debate on Training and Capacity Building for UN Peacekeeping Missions on Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York, China's permanent representative to the UN Ma Zhaoxu said that China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, was a major contributor of troops and funds to peacekeeping operations.

At present, more than 2,500 Chinese peacekeepers are implementing mandates in eight task areas, working in fields such as land mine removal, medical services, engineering, transportation and security.

China attaches great importance to the training and capacity building of peacekeepers, he added. "The Chinese peacekeepers are well-trained, well-equipped and well-disciplined," Ma said.

Ma said China is fully implementing the commitment made by President Xi Jinping to further support UN peacekeeping operations.

Ma noted that a standby peacekeeping force of more than 8,000 troops and two standby peacekeeping police contingents have been established and all have passed UN inspection.

"They can be put into operation at any time," he said.

In addition to its own efforts, Ma said China has also been actively helping countries that contribute troops, especially developing countries, in their capacity building.

Since 2015, through international workshops on peacekeeping and sending experts and trainers abroad to conduct training, China has helped other countries train more than 1,800 peacekeepers and over 200 mine-clearance personnel.

China will continue to work actively on providing the African Union with military assistance worth $100 million and an additional $80 million to help "Africa advance its Africa standby force and rapid reaction force, and will support Africa in its efforts to enhance its own peacekeeping capacity", he said.

Since the inception of the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund, China has kept peacekeeping capacity building as a top priority.

In 2018, eight training sessions were conducted for over 200 trainees. "In 2019, such training sessions will be increased to 15," Ma said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the council that better training for peacekeepers being deployed to increasingly hostile environments was a "necessary and strategic" investment that can save lives.

He said "notable progress" had been made in training 'blue helmets' and others who serve in some of the world's most dangerous places, but "much still needs to be done".

Guterres said that beyond preparation, training improves performance. "And as we know, improved performance reduces fatalities. As such, training is a necessary and strategic investment in peacekeeping - and is a shared responsibility between member states and the Secretariat," he added.

In the UN's most "high-risk" missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur, South Sudan and Mali, he said a plan to improve security and training was ongoing, according to UN's website.

"To help address the threat of improvised explosive devices and other dangers, we are working with troop and police-contributing countries to ensure that units joining our missions meet our operational readiness standards before deployment," he said. "We are also placing a renewed emphasis on in-mission training."

In conclusion, the UN chief noted "training gaps remain in critical areas such as weapons handling, first aid, human rights and protection issues."

He urged member states to consider "increased funding, in-kind contributions of equipment" and providing more trainers.

xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 05/09/2019 page11)