"Defending international peace and security" is one of the main missions of the United Nations (UN) as expounded in the "UN Charter". In the process of carrying out this mission, the peace-keeping action is the most commonly used method. Since the UN Palestinian truce supervision organization was sent to the Middle East region in June 1948, the United Nations has carried out 59 peace-keeping actions, 16 of which are still under execution. UN peace-keeping personnel are carrying out such tasks under very dangerous and arduous conditions, they have made tremendous contributions to the defense of world peace and security, thus far, a total of 1,837 peace-keepers have laid down their precious lives for this cause. The international community highly praises the UN peace-keeping action. In 1988, the UN peace-safeguarding action was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. The UN peace-maintaining action has become an important means indispensable to the defense of international peace and security.

Great change in task, acute shortage of acting ability--UN peace-keeping action faces new challenge

However, along with changes in the world situation after conclusion of the Cold War, the UN peace-keeping action is faced with new challenges, when interviewed by PD correspondent He Hongze stationed in the UN, assistant secretary-general Hedi Annabi in charge of UN peace-keeping action pointed out: New challenges come mainly from two aspects.

Firstly, great change has taken place in the task of peace-keeping action, its content has enormously expanded, and the working environment has become more complicated and difficult. In the Cold War era, peace-keeping action was mainly to get involved in inter-state armed conflicts, help implementation of the peace agreement and prevent recurrence of conflicts. After the Cold War, peace-keeping action was involved mostly in a country's internal conflicts, its task laid not only in prevention of conflicts, but also in postwar reconstruction, and the targets involved also included non-governmental arms, this dramatically increased the difficulty and danger of peace-keeping action.

Secondly, the serious shortage of the UN peace-keeping action ability was far from being able to meet the need of peace-keeping action. During his recent European tour, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called upon EU countries to provide more military and nonmilitary personnel for the UN peace-keeping action, as well as to offer professional and technical support, because this is nonexistent in many countries which provide peace-keeping forces.

Strictly disciplined and well trained, enduring hardships and doing remarkable job win Chinese "blue helmet" high praises from the UN

It is precisely under such circumstances that China has become increasingly active in its participation in and made ever-greater contribution to the UN peace-keeping action. Chinese permanent official to the UN told this reporter that China began participating in UN peace-keeping action in 1988, it has joined the peace-keeping special committee; in 1990 it sent military observers for the first time to the Middle East region; in April 1992, China formally organized the first "blue helmet" force to go to carry out tasks in Cambodia; in 2001 it acceded to the UN peace-keeping stand-by mechanism; in 2002 it set up an organization system for the dispatch of peace-keeping force. To date, China has sent 2,782 military personnel for the UN peace-keeping action, who have taken part in 13 peace-keeping actions; and 297 policemen who have participated in five peace-keeping actions. Chinese peace-keeping troops and policemen have reached a very high level in terms of competence, the allocation of equipment and work efficiency. Chinese peace-keepers have done excellent job, observed strict discipline and established good relations with local people, and have thus won them high praises from relevant UN departments. The Assistant Secretary-General said: We're very grateful for China's decision to take a more active part in peace-keeping actions. Currently China has participated in 13 of the existing 16 peace-keeping actions which involve a number of over 900 people in a very high degree of participation. China has rich human resources and very great economic strength, I hope China can send more peace-keeping forces and play still greater roles in the UN peace-keeping actions.

Not long ago, David Harland, head of the evaluation division of the UN peace-keeping action department, published the article titled "The Reason Why the UN Welcomes Chinese Peace-Keeping Personnel" in the Hong Kong-based "South China Morning Post", in which he cited the medical detachment and an engineering detachment of the Chinese peace-keeping force in the Congo (K) as an example and praised them for their excellent job. He noted that China was ready to take a more active part in the UN peace-keeping actions, the world has every reason to feel happy about this and it should welcome and encourage China to do so. He listed three reasons for this: First, China can provide necessary service for the UN peace-keep cause. Chinese troops are well trained and can bear hardships, making them particularly suitable for work in the arduous environment like participating in peace-keeping action; second, as China grows stronger and become a world power, it is also devoted to elimination of regional conflicts and maintaining world stability, this tallies with the interest of peace-keeping action; third, China is playing an increasingly important role in international affairs, and this will exert major influence on the world in the 21st century.

Big powers should take an active part, regional balance is indispensable--Peace-keeping action needs all-out support from the international community

But it is not enough to rely only on the efforts of a few country to enhance the UN peace-keeping action ability. While talking about this question, the Assistant Secretary-General said that previously participating in the UN peace-keeping force were mainly small and medium-sized countries, there were not many big powers getting involved in this action, this situation needs to be changed, all countries should make their contributions to the peace-keeping action. This is not only a matter related to strengthening the UN peace-keeping ability, but more importantly, it conveys a kind of political information, designed to tell the conflicting parties concerned: The UN organization and its member countries eagerly hope for the solution of this issue. In addition, participating in peace-keeping actions requires a regional balance, this is beneficial to enhancing the reputation and authority of peace-keeping actions.

The UN peace-keeping actions have traversed a course of 56 years. During this period, the peace-keeping action has experienced both high- and ebb tide; and both successes and setbacks. Generally speaking, it is continuously getting matured and advancing through a tortuous course. In the foreseeable future, peace-keeping action will remain an indispensable means for the United Nations to maintain world peace and security. But it should also be noticed that peace-keeping action is an arduous, long-term task and is at the crossroads. It needs the full support of the international community.

By People's Daily Online