The Chinese army comes for peace
In the long river of history, there will always be some important moments that give a meaningful response.
On September 28, 2015, at the UN headquarters in New York, President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the UN Peacekeeping Summit.
This is another bright moment for China on the world stage. Under the gaze of leaders or representatives of more than 70 countries and international organizations, President Xi explained to the world China’s principled position on issues involving world peace and proposed to strengthen UN peacekeeping operations. The important initiative of the United Nations, representing China’s six commitments to support UN peacekeeping operations, has aroused sustained and strong positive responses from the international community.
This year marks the 5th anniversary of President Xi’s participation in the UN peacekeeping summit and the 30th anniversary of the Chinese military’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations.
Looking back at this special moment at the intersection of important historical events, a fact is extremely clear-in the process of approaching the center of the world stage one step at a time, and striving to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, China firmly shoulders a responsible power. The Chinese military resolutely fulfills its lofty mission of safeguarding world peace, and has made significant contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind and letting the sun of peace shine all over the world.
Peaceful development, the blood gene of the Chinese nation——
Actively assume responsibility and obligations commensurate with their own strength
"Peace is the common aspiration and lofty goal of mankind."
Five years ago, standing on the rostrum of the United Nations Peacekeeping Summit, President Xi expressed the expectations of people all over the world and fully demonstrated the Chinese nation’s pursuit and love for peace.
The Chinese civilization has always advocated "harmonious states", "harmony but difference", and "harmony as the most precious".
China's "The Art of War by Sun Tzu" is a famous military book, but its first sentence says: "Soldiers, the important affairs of the country, the place of death and life, the way of survival and death, must not be ignored." The main point is to war carefully and not to fight.
For thousands of years, peace has been integrated into the blood of the Chinese nation and carved into the genes of the Chinese people.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, from the Kolber Foundation in Germany to the European Academy of Bruges in Belgium, from the Seoul National University in South Korea to the National Hural of Mongolia, to the headquarters of the League of Arab States and the United Nations... President Xi used Various international occasions talked about China’s persistent pursuit of peace-emphasizing the significance of peace to China. President Xi used the metaphor of "just like people need air, just like all things need sunshine for growth"; explaining China's will to follow the path of peaceful development, President Xi pointed out that "the Chinese have no genes for kings and hegemonies and military militants."
"If the world is good, China will be good; if China is good, the world will be better." Plain words sum up the logic of the relationship between China and the world.
As the world’s largest developing country, China’s adherence to the path of peaceful development is not an expedient measure, let alone diplomatic rhetoric, but a conclusion drawn from objective judgments of history, reality, and the future. It is self-confident in thought and self-conscious in practice. Organically unified.
"We are following the path of peaceful development, while maintaining world peace with our own development. The 30-year history of the Chinese military's participation in UN peacekeeping operations is a vivid explanation of this concept." said the head of the Peacekeeping Affairs Center of the Ministry of National Defense.
Turning the time indicator back to 30 years ago, in April 1990, news about Chinese soldiers appeared in the briefing of the UN peacekeeping operation for the first time: 5 military observers from the Chinese army arrived in Damascus.
This newsletter with pictures specially distributed has become a historical testimony to the Chinese military's participation in UN peacekeeping operations.
Over the past 30 years, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the strong leadership of President Xi, the Chinese military’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations has continued to develop in depth, achieving a historic leap——
The composition of Chinese peacekeeping forces has expanded from a single service to multiple services and arms, the mission type has been transformed from support to comprehensive and multi-functional, and the operational objectives have extended from stopping armed conflicts to building lasting peace...
Over the past 30 years, the Chinese army has participated in 25 UN peacekeeping operations. Chinese peacekeepers have traveled to more than 20 countries and regions including Cambodia, Congo (Kinshasa), Liberia, Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus, South Sudan, Mali, and Central Africa. It has made outstanding contributions to promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes, maintaining regional security and stability, and accelerating the economic and social development of relevant countries.
At present, China has dispatched a total of more than 40,000 peacekeepers, making it the country with the largest number of peacekeepers among the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the second largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations.
Self-reliant, self-reliant people
From "0" to "more than 40,000 person-times", from "blank" to "the second largest contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations", these changes strongly prove that China has made great achievements in its own construction while adhering to the path of peaceful development. He did not stop at being alone, but chose to benefit the world and actively assume the responsibilities and obligations commensurate with his own strength.
"In the past 30 years, Chinese peacekeepers have played a valuable role in UN peacekeeping operations." Not long ago, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Affairs Jean-Pierre Lacroix said that Chinese peacekeepers It has made a huge contribution to the construction of world peace. It is precisely because of China’s help that the UN peacekeeping work can be carried out effectively and efficiently around the world.
In charge of iron and blood, the consistent style of China's Blue Helmet——
Win wide praise from the international community with outstanding performance
"In order to support the improvement and strengthening of peacekeeping operations, China will join the new UN peacekeeping capability standby mechanism, and has decided to take the lead in establishing a standing peacekeeping police force and build a peacekeeping standby force with a scale of 8,000. China will actively consider responding to the requirements of the United Nations. Send more engineering, transportation, and medical personnel to participate in peacekeeping operations..."
Five years ago, in response to the expectations of the international community and all peace-loving people around the world, President Xi made six commitments to support UN peacekeeping operations on behalf of China at the UN Peacekeeping Summit.
In the past five years, these six promises have transformed from sonorous and powerful words into tangible results——
In September 2017, the Chinese military completed the registration of an 8,000-strong peacekeeping standby force with the United Nations. Since 2015, the Chinese military has dispatched 25 batches of peacekeeping engineers and medical units totaling more than 7,000 people to perform peacekeeping missions overseas; in the past five years, China has had a total of Trained more than 2,500 peacekeepers for various countries; the Chinese military actively implemented a $100 million free military aid to the African Union to support the construction of the African standing army and crisis response rapid response force; in 2017, China's first peacekeeping helicopter unit was deployed to Darfur, Sudan; China established the China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund, which carried out 52 projects in the field of peace and security from 2016 to 2019.
If the full implementation of these six commitments demonstrates China's demeanor as a big country, then the Chinese Blue Helmets on duty in various peacekeeping mission areas interpret the iron-blooded responsibility of the soldiers of the big powers with excellent qualities.
In 2014, the Ebola virus ravaged West Africa, and Liberia, a country that had just begun to see the dawn of peace, suffered another heavy blow.
When the epidemic hit, medical and health institutions across Liberia were almost paralyzed, and more than 40% of medical staff were infected.
Not only that, Ebola has also caused panic to the UN agencies and troops in Liberation. UNMIL even prepared for the worst, requiring peacekeeping forces of various countries to be ready to withdraw at any time.
During the raging epidemic period, the Chinese peacekeeping engineering unit to Liberia took the risk of being infected and held on to their posts. They continued construction for 28 days with an average of more than 16 hours a day, which was more than 30 days ahead of the expected construction period and successfully completed China’s aid to Ebola. The construction task of the clinic.
After the diagnosis and treatment center was put into operation, Liberia’s "Focus" reported that the Ebola diagnosis and treatment center built by China was the best, most comfortable and highest-quality Ebola in the country since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. Treatment facility.
The deadly virus cannot frighten the Chinese soldiers, and the guns of the militants cannot stop the progress of the Chinese Blue Helmets.
In March 2017, fierce armed conflict broke out in the border town of Yei in South Sudan. Seven UN civilian personnel were besieged in the crossfire area, and their lives were facing serious threats.
The Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalion immediately sent 12 officers and soldiers to drove to the rescue.
As soon as the rescue convoy drove out of the temporary base of operations, it encountered several pickup trucks equipped with heavy machine guns. Several groups of militants shot and fired while moving towards the center of the crossfire.
Along the way, the rescue team broke through the interception of armed elements three times, and finally transferred all UN civilian personnel to a safe area.
This rescue operation won high praise in the UNSU Mission and was promoted as an example.
David Shearer, the special representative of the UN South Soviet Mission at the time, said that the "powerful" measures taken by the Chinese peacekeeping forces are commendable.
Accompanied by the explosion, adjacent to the attack, fell asleep in the sound of gunfire, and awakened in the sound of gunfire.
This is a true portrayal of Chinese peacekeepers performing their duties overseas.
From 1990 to the present, no matter which mission area, no matter how dangerous or difficult, Chinese peacekeeping officers and soldiers have always completed various tasks well, creating "Chinese quality", "Chinese speed", "Chinese standard" and other golden signs——
In Cambodia, Chinese peacekeepers have created the miracle of “building a bridge in a day”; in the dry season when the highest temperature in Mali is nearly 50 degrees Celsius, the Chinese peacekeepers and soldiers built a secondary hospital in less than four months; During the 14 years of carrying out mine clearance missions along the line, Chinese peacekeeping officers and soldiers have maintained an impressive record of "zero casualties and zero accidents"...
Over the past 30 years, Chinese peacekeeping officers and soldiers have built and repaired more than 17,000 kilometers of roads and more than 300 bridges; cleared more than 14,000 landmines and various unexploded objects; transported more than 1.2 million tons of various materials and equipment, and the total transportation mileage reached more than 1,300 10,000 kilometers; more than 246,000 patient-times were received; countless tasks such as long and short-distance patrols, armed guards, refugee camp searches, supervision and liaison, negotiation and investigation were completed.
The outstanding performance of the Chinese Blue Helmet has won wide acclaim from the international community. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden has published a research report saying: "The Chinese peacekeeping force is the most professional, efficient, well-trained and disciplined among the UN mission forces. Team."
Not afraid of sacrifice, the spiritual background of Chinese soldiers——
Use your life to fulfill the zhengzheng oath to defend world peace
"United Nations peacekeeping operations are born for peace and exist for peace. They have become an important way to maintain world peace and security. Peacekeeping operations bring confidence to conflict areas and allow local people to see hope."
Five years ago, at the UN peacekeeping summit, President Xi used this sentence to highly summarize the meaning of UN peacekeeping operations, and at the same time pointed out the important responsibilities shouldered by peacekeepers.
Peace needs to be maintained, but maintaining peace needs to be at the cost of youth, sweat, blood, and life.
The People's Army, which was born in the Nanchang Uprising 93 years ago, has always been brave and selfless, not afraid of life and death; Chinese soldiers who perform peacekeeping missions overseas have the same spiritual background as their ancestors.
The Lebanese-Israeli border is a long-standing "gunpowder barrel" in the Middle East.
In December 2005, as a UN military observer, Du Zhaoyu was sent to the UN Armistice Supervision Organization and deployed at the Shiyam post on the Lebanese side of the Lebanese-Israeli temporary ceasefire line.
In July of the following year, Lebanese Hezbollah and Israeli forces erupted in fierce clashes, and the surrounding area of Shiyam outpost was frequently bombed.
On the evening of July 25, local time, the Shiyam post was directly hit by an Israeli aviation bomb. Du Zhaoyu on the post was killed along with three other UN military observers.
During more than 8 months as a UN military observer, Du Zhaoyu has performed more than 150 patrol missions and reported more than 200 observation reports.
The ruthless war took away Du Zhaoyu's 34-year-old life and burned his clambering oath: "The duty of a soldier is not to war, but to stop it."
Mali, where terrorist attacks are frequent, is known as the most dangerous UN peacekeeping mission area.
On the evening of May 31, 2016, local time, when Shen Liangliang and his comrade Chongchang Si were jointly responsible for the guard mission of Gate 2 of the Chinese peacekeeping engineering unit camp to Mali, a car carrying more than 500 kilograms of explosives rushed towards the gate at high speed.
Shen Liangliang immediately reported to the combat duty room, sounded an alarm to inform the camp to protect him, and at the same time decisively commanded Si Chongchang to shoot at the target, and pushed Si Chongchang away from the outpost at the moment of the explosion.
Shen Liangliang had time and opportunity to conceal, but he put his personal safety aside, always stick to the post to perform his duties, and used his life to return the safety of other personnel in the camp.
In September 2019, President Xi Jinping signed a presidential order, according to the decision of the Standing Committee of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress on the award of national medals and national honorary titles passed by the 13th NPC Standing Committee, granting Shen Liangliang the “People’s Hero” to the country Honorary title.
Just over a month after Shen Liangliang's sacrifice, the Chinese army lost two more peacekeepers.
In July 2016, South Sudan government forces and rebels continued fierce fighting in the capital Juba.
Beginning on July 8, the exchange of fire between the two sides has gradually escalated, and heavy weapons such as tanks, armored vehicles, and armed helicopters have appeared in the United Nations camps and refugee camps.
In order to ensure the safety of the refugee camps, Li Lei, Yang Shupeng and their comrades in the Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalion performed a security mission at the refugee camp No. 4 post.
In the evening of July 10th, a rocket hit the 105th chariot on duty at the sentry post. Li Lei and Yang Shupeng died successively.
That day, Li Lei and Yang Shupeng had been fighting for more than ten hours, and the company originally planned to arrange for them to rest.
However, it was the strong belief in their hearts that made them go to the line of fire again.
On December 31, 2016, when President Xi delivered his 2017 New Year’s message, he especially emphasized: “Several comrades of the Chinese peacekeeping force sacrificed heroically and gave precious lives for world peace. We miss them and we must give them to their loved ones. take good care."
The world is not peaceful, and peace needs to be defended; there is no war in China, and the Chinese soldiers have sacrifices!
Over the past 30 years, 16 Chinese peacekeepers have given their lives for the noble cause of peace.
Liu Mingfang, Du Zhaoyu, Xie Baojun, Shen Liangliang, Li Lei, Yang Shupeng... These 16 Chinese peacekeepers either died unfortunately during the mission, or were killed in an air strike, or died in the mission area... They used their own flesh and blood. The body interprets the bloodliness and responsibility of Chinese soldiers, and also inspires comrades in arms to continue to fulfill their sacred mission and defend world peace.
"The reason why you can't see the darkness is because someone is desperately blocking it with your body." "There is no time to be quiet, it's just that someone is carrying a load." After Li Lei and Yang Shupeng sacrificed, they continued to use social platforms. These two sentences on the screen are a powerful explanation and best interpretation of the outstanding contributions made by Chinese soldiers to the cause of peace.
The United States and the United States, the unremitting pursuit of the Chinese military——
Contribute to the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind
Peace is priceless, but historical experience shows that peace is also fragile.
The current era is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. The challenges threatening human security, survival, and development are complex and severe.
In the face of critical moments and crossroads, some people hesitate, some move against the current, and some move forward courageously.
On September 28, 2015, on the same day as the United Nations Peacekeeping Summit, President Xi delivered an important speech entitled "Joining Hands to Build New Partners for Win-Win Cooperation and Building a Community of Shared Future for Mankind" at the General Debate of the 70th United Nations General Assembly.
Maintaining peace and sharing a common destiny is China’s resounding answer to the question of the age of "what happened to the world?"
In recent years, the Chinese concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, which conforms to the historical trend, has become increasingly mature and perfect, and has become a strong voice of the times that has stirred the world. At the 2015 annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia, President Xi proposed the "Four Perseverances" towards a community with a shared future. Practical path; at the UN’s 70th anniversary summits, President Xi systematically elaborated on the roadmap of “five in one” for building a community with a shared future for mankind; in January 2017 at the UN headquarters in Geneva, President Xi explained in detail the motivation and vision of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind And the path of implementation...every time a narrative that runs through the past and the present, it always brings a broad consensus.
Speaking, the body must do it.
To build a community with a shared future for mankind, China is both an advocate and an actor, and Chinese peacekeepers with a mission of peace are even more important participants.
There is a Sino-Sudan Friendship Primary School in Nyala, Darfur, Sudan.
This school established with the help of Chinese peacekeepers is the local elementary school with the largest scale and the best teaching conditions.
The story about this elementary school has to start 13 years ago.
In 2007, after the first Chinese peacekeeping engineering units to Darfur, Sudan were deployed to the mission area, they found that the nearby city of Nyala did not even have a decent elementary school, so they actively coordinated various parties to plan the site selection for the construction of the school.
In May 2009, the school broke ground, and the second batch of Chinese peacekeeping engineers to Darfur, Sudan, undertook the construction task.
Leveled 13,000 square meters of land, built 32 school buildings, installed 600 sets of tables and chairs, built a football field... After three months of hard work, a school was built.
To this day, the Chinese peacekeepers in Darfur, Sudan have been rotated to the 16th batch, but the assistance of Chinese peacekeepers to this elementary school has never been interrupted.
Over the past 30 years, there have been numerous similar heart-warming stories in the various mission areas deployed by China's Blue Helmets-in the Congo (DRC), Chinese peacekeepers have relayed assistance to the SOS International Children's Village near the camp for more than 10 consecutive years; in South Sudan, China The peacekeeping medical team has paired up with health institutions such as the Wau Marie Nursing College to provide technical assistance; in Mali, the Chinese Blue Helmet regularly invites resident children into the peacekeeping camp to teach the children knowledge and give away learning tools...
A UN official commented: "In the Chinese military, we have seen the greatest virtues of this nation-kindness and wisdom. If any nation in the world is as friendly as the Chinese nation, the world will definitely be a better place."
"The Chinese people not only hope that they will have a good life, but they also hope that the people of other countries will live well." Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, especially in recent years, more and more Chinese soldiers have gone abroad. They may step on the ocean to protect merchant ships. Or save lives and send health, and use practical actions to contribute to building a community with a shared future for mankind——
Since 2008, the Chinese Navy has sent 36 escort fleets to the Gulf of Aden and the waters of Somalia to provide safety protection for approximately 7,000 Chinese and foreign ships, rescued, rescued, and rescued more than 70 ships in distress; the Peace Ark hospital ship has been on the list for more than 10 years , Has performed 7 "harmonious missions" missions, visited 43 countries, and received more than 230,000 patients in the visited countries; in 2014, the Ebola epidemic occurred in West African countries, and the Chinese army staged the "most beautiful retrograde". 6 batches of medical teams have been sent to Sierra Leone and Liberia to perform missions to aid Africa in the fight against Egypt...
In recent years, in many major disasters such as the loss of Malaysia Airlines passenger plane, the earthquake in Nepal, and the dam breach in Laos, Chinese soldiers have been rushing to help.
"China's military strength is not to show strength, but to help the weak; not for war, but for peace." "China's development is the growth of the world's peace forces." These international community evaluations are precisely the Chinese military in the new era. As a true portrayal.
The greatness of a big country does not lie in its large size, size, and fist, but its large-mindedness, large-scale structure, and large responsibilities.
"China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of international order. The Chinese military has always been a staunch force in maintaining world peace. The Chinese military will continue to carry out international military exchanges and cooperation to jointly respond to global security challenges. Actively fulfill the responsibilities and obligations commensurate with China's international status, and actively contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind." President Xi solemnly promised the world.
The Chinese army came for peace.
Looking to the future, the Chinese military will surely write a more exciting chapter on the stage of international peace and provide more solid and powerful support for the bright future of mankind.
Luo Zheng