China is playing a bigger role in preserving international peace, a military expert said Wednesday in Beijing.

Major General Peng Guangqian, a researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences, said the fact that China had bolstered its peacekeeping forces in Lebanon is a sign of its determination to preserve world peace.

Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday announced that China would enlarge its peacekeeping force in Lebanon to 1,000 personnel.

"This is the first time that China has contributed such a large peacekeeping force to a U.N. peacekeeping mission," Peng said, adding that the decision is particularly meaningful after the death of China's U.N. observer Du Zhaoyu in Lebanon in July.

Du, 34, died in an Israeli raid on a U.N. post in southern Lebanon on July 25.

China has contributed more than 6,000 persons to 15 U.N. peacekeeping missions since 1990, making it the biggest contributor of the five permanent members of the security council, according to the peacekeeping affairs office of the Ministry of National Defence.

Apart from Du, seven Chinese peacekeepers have died in the line of duty since 1988. They were Lei Runmin, who died in 1991 in a car accident on the Iraq-Kuwait border; Liu Mingfang, who contracted malaria in Cambodia and died there in 1992; Chen Zhiguo and Yu Shili, who died in a bombing raid in Cambodia in 1993; Yu Jianxing in Iraq in 2003; and Fu Qingli in the Congo and Zhang Ming in Libya in 2005.

Chinese peacekeeping forces include military observers, civilian police, engineers, doctors and transport staff, the office said.

"Chinese peacekeeping forces have grown both in scale and influence," Peng said. "This fits with China's new international profile and increased responsibilities."

In recent times, more and more Chinese soldiers have taken part in international aid operations including the earthquakes in Iran and Pakistan and the tsunami.

"The fact that the Chinese army is open and transparent is the best response to the 'China Threat' concept heard in some countries," Peng said.

"The openness of the Chinese army demonstrates China's sincerity in preserving world and regional peace," he said.

Since 2002, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been actively taking part in bilateral and multilateral military exercises to boost military exchanges and cooperation.

In 2005, China and Russia launched a high-profile eight-day military exercise code-named "Peace Mission 2005" and also carried out rescue exercises with naval forces from India, Pakistan and Thailand.

China and Tajikistan will hold their first military exercise, code-named "Cooperation-2006", from Sept. 22 to 23.

"These exercises have strengthened the Chinese army's capacity to fight terrorism in cooperation with armies from other countries, increasing our ability to preserve world peace," Peng said. "China's 2.3 million soldiers want to play an important role in preserving world peace and boosting common development."

Source: Xinhua