Spotlight: Chinese peacekeepers conduct air-land patrol in troubled hotspot in Liberia

A team of Chinese riot police within the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Liberia conducted on Friday an air-land patrol in one of the country's troubled hotspots, winning welcome and applaud from the local government and residents.

It was the first time over the past more than one year that U.N. peacekeepers were seen patrolling in the area in Sinoe County in southern Liberia, as the gold-laden area is covered with dense jungle and is well-known for poor road conditions, local residents told Xinhua.

Moreover, the security situation in the troubled area is bad as conflicts occur frequently among local residents for land and labor-management disputes.

In conducting the air-land patrol, the Chinese peacekeepers joined multinational observers from the United States, Germany, Ukraine, Kyrghyzstan and other countries in covering 220 km in air patrol and 6 km in land patrol on foot in about four hours.

China's peacekeeping riot police have made great contribution to peace and stability in Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Thursday when attending the Independence Day celebration in Greenville, capital city of Sinoe County, expressing appreciation to the Chinese peacekeepers.

China has been an active participant in the U.N. peacekeeping mission over the past 25 years.

Mongi Hamdi, a special representative of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and head of the U.N. Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), visited on Friday the Chinese peacekeepers in Mali's eastern parts of Gao, a day ahead of China's Army Day on August 1, speaking highly of the Chinese mission.

He said the MINUSMA is proud of the Chinese soldiers' performance and recognizes the soldiers' contribution to Mali's peace and stability.

Michael Anker Lollesgaard, the MINUSMA commander, said when watching the Chinese soldiers' live-ammunition drill that "the Chinese peacekeepers showed perfect discipline and high fighting quality."

China has contributed more than 3,000 military and police personnel to U.N. peacekeeping missions worldwide by June 30, 2015, according to the U.N.

With the dispatch of a battalion to South Sudan in April, the types of staff sent by China for the U.N. peacekeeping missions expanded from engineering, transportation, medical and military observers to whole infantry divisions.

China is the largest troop contributor among the five permanent Security Council members, and it is also a financial contributor, a political contributor and a facilitator of U.N. peacekeeping missions, Edmond Mulet, assistant secretary-general for U.N. peacekeeping operations said recently.

The quality of China's personnel and equipment as well as its engineering capability, infantry and medical units that the country has deployed should be recognized as well, he said.

Recalling his working experience with China's peacekeepers in Haiti, he described the police unit as "efficient," "superior" and "effective."

"It was thanks to the Chinese police unit that they were able to provide security, stability and bring peace back to the population of Port-au-Prince," when urban gangs acted like robbing, extortion and kidnapping in the city, he said.

"And when I, as the head of the mission, would request from the Chinese police unit to do a task, they would always be there. They were always on time, always punctual, always efficient," he said.

"The level of the professionalism, the level of capacity, training, equipment... is really outstanding," he said. Endi