Demining hero Du Fuguo sees off the members of Chinese peacekeeping multi-role engineering company to UNIFIL at the airport on December 5, 2023. (Photo by Qu Fatong)
By Wu Peichen, Qu Fatong and Huang Yuanli
BEIJING, Dec. 8 -- On December 5, the first batch of more than 200 peacekeepers of the 22nd Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon boarded a chartered flight in Kunming, Yunnan Province, and flew overseas to carry out the one-year peacekeeping mission.
The 22nd Chinese peacekeeping force consists of three contingents. Among them, the multi-role engineering company will undertake tasks including mine clearance and explosive disposal, Blue Line boundary marker erection, engineering construction, and humanitarian relief.
The construction engineering company will take charge of tasks including foundational construction for roads and sites, Blue Line boundary marker erection, and other construction works.
The staff of the Level-1+ Hospital will be tasked with medical assistance, humanitarian relief, etc.
Since the first Chinese peacekeeping contingent to the UNIFIL was dispatched in 2006, the Chinese peacekeepers have conducted mine hunting and clearing in a cumulative total of approximately two million square meters of landmine areas and 84,000 square meters of patrol roads, and removed more than 14,000 landmines and unexploded ordnance of various types, maintaining a record of "zero accidents and zero casualties". They have also completed over 13,000 construction tasks, provided medical treatment for more than 90,000 cases, and conducted more than 2,500 surgical operations. More than 60,000 local villagers have benefited from their free treatment, donations, and assistance, and around 320 kilometers of roads have been repaired.
The Chinese peacekeepers are known among the local people as "the most beloved friends from the East", hailed by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) as "one of the best mine clearance teams in the world", and praised by the commanders of the UNIFIL.
It is learned that the second batch of the 22nd Chinese peacekeeping force to the UNIFIL will fly to the mission area in mid-December.