Xi announces more peacekeeping aid

President Xi Jinping attended a UN peacekeeping summit on the last day of his state visit to the US, saying that a stable system for peacekeeping is required, and that China will increase aid to Africa.

He said that China has taken part in peacekeeping operations for 25 years and has been a top troop and fund contributor. To support United Nations peacekeeping operations, China will set up a permanent peacekeeping police squad with 8,000 Chinese troops and will give favorable consideration to UN requests for more Chinese engineering soldiers and medical staff for peacekeeping operations.

The summit was co-hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, along with eight other countries. Xi said that China will also train 2,000 peacekeepers from other countries over the next five years and carry out 10 de-mining assistance programs that will include training and equipment provisions.

Xi also announced that China will help African countries improve their peacekeeping and safeguard stability, and that it will provide $100 million in military aid to the African Union over the next five years to support an African standby force as well as build the continent's capacity for immediate crisis response. China will send the first peacekeeping helicopter squad to UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, he said.

Xi emphasized that they should use means fitting of their countries' national conditions to solve their own problems. China's most recent peacekeeping activity in Africa includes sending 700 troops to South Sudan who will secure UN bases for the civilians who have fled civil war.

Herv Ladsous, the head of the UN peacekeeping operations department, praised China's aid to peacekeeping operations and for being the biggest contributor among the P5 nations - the five permanent member countries of the UN Security Council.

"The latest of course is in South Sudan (where Chinese troops performed well under difficult circumstances)," Ladsous said. "I had a chance to visit Chinese peacekeepers, both in China, when they were training to prepare for deployment (and) I've seen them on the ground and I must say, they perform very well," he said, speaking to Chinese media prior to the summit.

Hong Xiao in New York contributed to this story.