The United Nations held a ceremony recently at its headquarters to confer the Dag Hammarskjold Medal to soldiers, police, and civilian personnel who died in the 2006 peacekeeping operations.

Du Zhaoyu, a Chinese officer who died in Lebanon, was one of the 107 peacekeepers who has been awarded this medal.

According to the information from the United Nations News Centre website, Chinese officer Du Zhaoyu once served as a UN observer in the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) on the Lebanese-Israeli border. Unfortunately, thirty-four year old Du Zhaoyu died during a raid on a UN post on July 25, 2006. Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, accepted the medal on behalf of Du Zhaoyu.

Wang Guangya explained that Chinese peacekeepers not only used their actual actions to support the work of the United Nations, but also proved that China's army is a peacekeeping force. It's outstanding performance and high quality not only won high praise from their UN colleagues, but also won high praise from host countries. So far, China has sent, in total, more than 7,000 military personnel, police officers and civilian officials for UN peacekeeping operations. Currently, China still has 1,800 people participating in the UN's thirteen peacekeeping missions.

By People's Daily Online