Strong will, capabilities

Zhou Bo, a senior fellow at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy, said that the UN's primary task is to maintain world peace, and stressed that China has a unique advantage as a participant in the peacekeeping operations.

" (This participation) combines high-quality equipment, disciplined personnel and a strong political will to maintain peace," said Zhou, who is also the former director of the Center for Security Cooperation at the Office for International Military Cooperation of the Central Military Commission. "These three elements only occur together in the Chinese military."

In mid-September, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun emphasized in his speech at the opening of the 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, that the Chinese military actively fulfills its international responsibilities as a major power's armed forces and is willing to work with militaries from other countries to build peace and share the future.

"China is ready to engage in cooperation on escort missions, counterterrorism and peacekeeping with other nations, providing highlevel defense and security cooperation to safeguard high-quality development," he said.

Gilles Carbonnier, vice-president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that China, as a world-leading power and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, is playing an important role in world affairs.

China is an important contributor to peacekeeping, he said, noting that in these domains Red Cross and Chinese officials can develop dialogues.

"We welcome China's engagement in support of humanitarianism and international humanitarian law. It is very important," Carbonnier said.

Zhao Xiaozhuo, a retired PLA senior colonel, noted that China is one of the few countries able to effectively carry out peacekeeping missions, thanks to its strong and comprehensive capabilities.

"Chinese peacekeeping forces undertake a significant amount of front-line work, mainly in security, engineering, transportation and medical units. Therefore, they also contribute to local development by improving infrastructure and medical conditions," said Zhao, who served in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2001 to 2002.

"Our military has become stronger, and we also hope to do our part to make the world a better place," he said.

Naval escort missions

Beyond participating in UN peacekeeping operations, the PLA also contributes to world peace in other ways, including sending its advanced hospital ship Peace Ark to provide free medical services to less-developed countries and dispatching naval vessels to escort merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden and through Somali waters.

Since December 2008, when the first Chinese naval escort task force set sail from Sanya, Hainan province, to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, China has dispatched 46 escort task forces, involving over 150 ships and more than 35,000 officers and soldiers, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

Chinese escort task forces have safely escorted over 7,200 Chinese and overseas vessels in more than 1,600 passages and rescued nearly 100 ships, with foreign vessels accounting for over 50 percent.

Zhang, the former PLA researcher, pointed out that each Chinese escort task force typically comprises two combat ships and one supply ship, which he said is of a "substantial scale" compared to other nations' escort forces in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters.

Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said at a news conference in December that the 15 years of escort missions in the Gulf of Aden have demonstrated the mission and responsibility of naval officers and soldiers to embrace the world and safeguard peace.

"In missions such as repelling pirates, emergency evacuations and humanitarian aid, the Chinese Navy has embodied the concept of building both human and maritime communities with a shared future, actively contributing to safeguarding national overseas interests and the security of international maritime routes," he said.

jiangchenglong@chinadaily.com.cn