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SCIO briefing on white paper 'China's Armed Forces: 30 Years of UN Peacekeeping Operations'

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Hu Kaihong:

Now you may ask questions. Please state the news outlet you represent first.

CCTV:

We have noticed that many concepts contained in this white paper haven't been seen in previous news coverages regarding Chinese military peacekeepers' operations, such as the original aspirations and the mission of China's armed forces in participating in UNPKOs and the types of tasks the Chinese military peacekeepers have undertaken. Could you give us a comprehensive introduction of the main features of the peacekeeping-themed white paper? Thank you.

Luo Wei:

With the title of China's Armed Forces: 30 Years of UN Peacekeeping Operations, the first thematic white paper on the participation of China's armed forces in UNPKOs takes an overall view of the glorious journey of China's armed forces in the UNPKOs over the past 30 years and expounds on their ideas and practices of safeguarding world peace in the new era, with a strong approach that is systematic, authoritative and innovative. I think the main features of white paper can be categorized into "five firsts":

First, the white paper, for the first time, clarifies the original aspirations and the mission of China's armed forces' participating in UNPKOs. It clearly states that the nature, the original aspirations and the mission of China's armed forces to participate in UNPKOs was to meet our responsibilities as a major country to safeguard world peace, and contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. The formation of the original aspirations and mission evolved from the pursuit for peace in the genes of the Chinese nation, that the Chinese people care about the wellbeing of humanity, that serving the people has always been the fundamental purpose of the people's armed forces, and that China honors its responsibilities as a major country.

Second, the white paper, for the first time, offers a structure for the system of policies regarding China's armed forces' participation in UNPKOs, which can be summarized into "six insistences", namely, insisting on the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, insisting on closely following the basic principles of the UNPKOs, insisting on the vision of global governance based on extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, insisting on the pursuit of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, insisting on peaceful means in settling disputes, and insisting on building stronger peacekeeping partnerships.

Third, the white paper, for the first time, explores the main tasks undertaken by China's armed forces in UNPKOs. It systematically analyzes all sorts of peacekeeping tasks undertaken by China's armed forces in UNPKOs over the past 30 years, and divides them into six main types - ceasefire supervision, stabilizing volatile situations, protecting civilians, providing force protection, deploying enabling capabilities, and sowing the seeds of hope. Among the six, the last on sowing the seeds of hope contains distinctive Chinese characteristics.

Fourth, the white paper, for the first time, introduces the full implementation undertaken in the past five years of the pledges made by President Xi Jinping at the Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping at UNHQ in 2015. There, he announced six measures that China would take to support U.N. peacekeeping. Over past five years, the Chinese government and armed forces have faithfully implemented the decisions and directions of President Xi Jinping, and taken concrete steps to honor the promises. We have set up a U.N. peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 personnel, deployed more enabling troops to participate in UNPKOs, trained large amounts of peacekeepers for foreign countries, offered free military aid to the African Union, deployed a first peacekeeping helicopter unit, and established a China-U.N. Peace and Development Fund to support peacekeeping efforts. All of these represent the new actions taken and new contributions made by China's armed forces in support of UNPKOs in the new era.

Fifth, the white paper, for the first time, presents the vision and initiative of China's armed forces in participating in UNPKOs. The world is going through profound changes unseen in a century, and the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating such changes. The white paper calls for the international community to uphold the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, proposing Chinese ideas and Chinese solutions for strengthening and improving UNPKOs on six aspects.