A 275-member team of Chinese soldiers left for Liberia Thursday for an eight-month UN peacekeeping operation to the African country.

They formed the first batch of the eighth peacekeeping team that China sent to Liberia.

They will be followed by a second batch of 283 soldiers who are scheduled to depart December 29.

The eighth team is comprised of transportation troops, engineers and medical staff.

China joined the peacekeeping mission in Liberia in December 2003 under a resolution of the UN Security Council. China has so far sent a total of 3,906 peacekeepers to Liberia in rotation, with each mission lasting eight months.

The seventh peacekeeping team was also comprised of 558 soldiers in total, each of whom were awarded the UN international peace medal for their outstanding performance in November.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2008)