China's fifth batch of peacekeeping police set off for Kosovo from Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

The 18-member police contingent, who will replace the fourth batch who returned to China in late January, will carry out criminal investigation and traffic policing and protect witnesses and VIPs, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

The contingent, from China's southwest province of Sichuan, is the first peacekeeping one organized by a Chinese local police force, an official with MPS said.

The 18 recruits were chosen from more than 60,000 police in Sichuan, based on test scores in English, driving, shooting and physical condition.

Before departure, they received three weeks of intensive training in late Feburary in Beijing, according to the official.

The police, 15 men and three women, are aged 29 years on average. Two of them previously served as peacekeepers in Kosovo and Liberia, according to the official.

The fourth contingent of Chinese peacekeepers arrived in Kosovo on October 28, 2006 and they were given UN peacekeeping medals in May 2007. China has been involved in the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo since April 2004 and altogether sent 55 person-times to the region.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2008)