Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday told a Security Council high-level meeting on UN peacekeeping that China has been a staunch supporter of UN peace operations.
GREAT CONTRIBUTOR
Twenty-seven years have passed ever since China began its participation in the United Nations peacekeeping operations in 1990, when Beijing sent five military observers to the Middle East. Today, China has become the second-largest country to share UN peacekeeping costs and has some 2,500 peacekeepers serving in nine UN peacekeeping operations.
"As the second largest financial contributor, China's contribution to peacekeeping is extremely important," Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, told Xinhua.
"China is a very important troop contributor as well with about 2,500 peacekeepers deployed in a number of countries as in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Mali," said Lacroix, who is the UN chief commanding some 111,000 peacekeepers from more than 120 countries, serving in 15 peacekeeping operations.
UN peacekeeping is intended to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace.
The UN Charter gives the Security Council the power and responsibility to take collective action to maintain international peace and security.Every UN member state is legally obligated to pay their respective share for peacekeeping.
Peacekeeping expenses are based on a formula taking into account the economic wealth of member states among other things. Permanent Security Council members are required to pay a larger share, while all states are free to contribute additional funding, equipment, or other services to missions they choose.
In 2017, the UN agreed to reduce the peacekeeping budget by 600 million U.S. dollars after the United States initially proposed a larger cut of approximately 900 million dollars.
The budget might change with each passing year. China now contributes 10.29 percent, next to the 28.57 percent by the United States which has 74 peacekeepers. In the meanwhile, China contributes more troops to UN peacekeeping missions than any other permanent member of the Security Council.
The past years saw even more active Chinese participation in the UN peacekeeping operations, with tremendous increases in its troops.
In late 2013, China, for the first time, dispatched a security force of 170 soldiers to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali.
China also sent support detachments, such as engineers, transportation and medical corps, to UN peacekeeping operations.
HIGH-VALUE PEACEKEEPERS
China dispatches "high-value, hard-to-source enabler troops" and has recently begun to provide combat troops, marking a significant change in its deployment profile, according to related reports.
"What is remarkable is that the contributions of China are very high- quality," said Lacroix, recalling his visit to Juba of South Sudan with his predecessor Herve Ladsous, where he saw himself China's contributions there.
