CRI听力:Chinese "blue helmets" show China's readiness to shoulder responsibility

Tuesday has marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of UN peacekeeping activities.

It's also been 28 years since China first joined in UN peacekeeping operations.

"The world is so big and faces so many problems. The international community expects China to express its voice, to present its proposals. China will not be absent from these efforts. We must show our sympathy to those suffering through difficulty and wars. We must show our sense of responsibility in action. China will always be open to the world and reach out to those in need."

As part of a Leaders' Summit on U.N. Peacekeeping three years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China's commitment to international peacekeeping

At that same meeting, Xi Jinping also announced China's participation in the UN Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System, while also pledging to build a permanent Chinese-UN peacekeeping force of 8-thousand for the system.

At the same time, Chinese authorities also promised more engineers, as well as transportation and medical personnel toward peacekeeping operations.

China undertook its first UN peacekeeping operation back in 1990. 

Since then, its soldiers have left footprints in Africa's fight against Ebola, in South Sudan's military conflict and the war-torn zones in Mali...

So far, over 35-thousand Chinese troops have put on the 'blue helmet' in 24 different major peacekeeping operations.

18 of them also sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.

Today, China is the second-largest financial contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget. 

China also provides around 25-hundred troops and police officers, who are currently on the ground in around a dozen peacekeeping missions worldwide.

Speaking ahead of this year's peacekeeping anniversary, the UN released a short video to particularly honor China's contribution.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also taken time to specifically laud Chinese peacekeepers.

"China is today a very important part of our peacekeeping operation. And that's even more important when we are facing tremendous challenges. We see the role of China not only in the direct presence of the Chinese peacekeepers but also in China's contribution to the discussions we have all these years. We ought to improve peacekeeping to make peacekeeping more focused to make peacekeeping safer for the peacekeepers, and also more effective for the protection of civilians, and to every more solid international cooperation in supporting peacekeeping."

Since 1948, more than a million personnel from over 110 countries have taken part in 71 UN peacekeeping operations.

Some 37-hundred have lost their lives in an attempt to fulfill the United Nations' mandate of peace and stability.