BEIJING, Mar. 10 -- In response to the common security threats and challenges, the Chinese military has conducted exchanges and cooperation with the militaries of various countries and provided a wealth of international public security products in recent years. Chinese military has always been a staunch force for maintaining world peace, said the military deputies and members to China’s “two sessions”.
"China pursues a defensive defense policy and implements active defense, which has been clearly formulated in China’s National Defense Law and has become a basic policy,” said He Lei, former deputy head of the Academy of Military Sciences of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). He stated that China will never seek hegemony, expansion, or sphere of influence, nor will it engage in any arms race or threaten other countries despite the increasing defense spending and modernized development of the military.
At present, China has more than 2,500 peacekeepers performing missions abroad. It is the second-largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations and the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Senior Captain Xu Jianfeng, political commissar of a naval frigate flotilla under the PLA Northern Theater Command, said that the Chinese naval hospital ship Peace Ark has sailed abroad nine times, visiting more than 40 countries and regions and providing medical services for more than 230,000 people over the past ten years. The Chinese PLA Navy has dispatched 37 escort taskforces to the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somali, protecting more than 6,900 Chinese and foreign ships.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Chinese military has provided support and assistance to the international community. As of February 2021, the Chinese military has provided anti-epidemic materials such as masks and respirators to the armed forces of 50 countries, including Mozambique, Serbia, Cuba and Laos, sent medical expert teams to four countries, including Cambodia and Pakistan, and held video conferences on epidemic prevention and control experience with militaries of 18 countries and international organizations, including Russia and Singapore.
“The Chinese military members are willing to join hands with their neighboring friendly countries and militaries to jointly fight the epidemic and make new contributions to building a community of common health for mankind and maintaining world peace and stability,” said Colonel Feng Wei, a deputy regiment commander of the air force under the PLA Western Theater Command.