China's UN envoy said Monday the UN charter must be upheld in promoting reform of the world body's peacekeeping operations (PKOs).
China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun made the remark at a Security Council debate on PKOs.
He said PKOs should be governed by such basic principles as the consent of the party concerned, impartiality, and non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate.
He went on to stress that peaceful settlement of disputes through political means is at the core of the UN charter, and that enhancing consultations with host countries and respecting their ownership is important in PKOs.
Before Zhang spoke, Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the Security Council that UN peacekeeping efforts aim to strengthen its missions' capacity to ensure a more mobile and robust operational approach.
The UN peacekeeping chief said the volatile political and security environment, where the missions are deployed, requires well-equipped and capable military, police and civilian components, with the right mindset and posture to undertake flexible and rapid deployments.
For this reason, he said the missions are changing their approach to peacekeeping. "Our efforts are focused on adapting mission footprints and strengthening capacity to ensure a more mobile, robust, aware and integrated operational approach."
Meanwhile, the undersecretary-general noted achievement made in peacekeeping fatalities reduction, saying the number of fatalities as a result of violent attacks stood at 27 in 2018, down from 58 in 2017.
He attributed this in particular to the enhanced effectiveness in countering the threat of improvised explosive devices in Mali, which has the most challenging environment for the security of peacekeepers.
