A total of 350 Chinese peacekeepers of the 10th Chinese Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) arrived at an airport in north China's Shijiazhuang on Saturday morning after completing their 12-month-long peacekeeping mission.
Members of the 10th Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalion to South Sudan (Juba) are mainly selected from a brigade of the 81st Group Army under the PLA Central Theater Command.
The contingent comprising 700 members set off from China in two batches to carry out the 12-month peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (Juba) last December. Their tasks in the mission area included armed escort, security patrol, conflict isolation and humanitarian relief.
The Chinese peacekeepers have completed more than 200 UNMISS authorized tasks, fulfilling their peacekeeping mission with fine style of work when facing complicated and turbulent situation.
During the past year, the Chinese peacekeepers visited local villages, schools and orphanages for a dozen of times, donating over 5,000 pieces of supplies in total and offering free medical consultations and treatment to local people, which demonstrates China’s role as a responsible major country in the world. All the 700 Chinese peacekeepers were awarded the United Nations Peace Medal of Honor for their unremitting dedication.
"During the peacekeeping mission, we have always taken the peacekeeping operations as political tests for our loyalty and obedience to the Party and capabilities to fulfill duties. We will continue to maintain our fine style of work in the peacekeeping mission after we return to China and make greater achievements in daily training," said Gao Zongliang from the contingent.
According to the schedule, rest of peacekeepers of the 10th Chinese Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion will return to China in late December.
350 Chinese peacekeepers return from South Sudan
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.
Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.
Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.
"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.
The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.
Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar
