Top 10 PLA events abroad in 2013 (3)

3 . The first security forces undertaking peacekeeping mission overseas

The advanced detachment of the first peacekeeping taskforce of the Chinese People's Liberation Army to Mali, consisting of 135 officers and men, left Harbin city of Heilongjiang province in north China for the Republic of Mali in western Africa for an 8-month-long peacekeeping mission on December 3, 2013.This is the 24th peacekeeping operation of the Chinese military since it first dispatched peacekeeping personnel for UN missions in 1990, also the first time that the PLA had sent out security force for peacekeeping missions. (Source: people.com.cn)