WUNRN
http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/news/newsmakers/1412/2780-1.htm
China – First Female Infantry Squad for China
UN Peacekeeping Mission
Editor: Amanda
Wu – December 23, 2014
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A female soldier swears during a ceremony. This will
be China's first female infantry squad to be sent abroad for international
peace-keeping missions. [Weibo account of PLA Daily] |
An infantry squad
composed of 13 female soldiers will participate in a China peacekeeping mission
for the first time.
China's first
infantry battalion to South Sudan is set for departure, marking the country's
first infantry to participate in a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
A rally was
held on December 22 in the city of Laiyang in east China's Shandong
Province. The dispatch was approved by the Central Military Commission and its
Chairman Xi Jinping.
Previous Chinese
peacekeepers were mainly engineering, transportation, medical service and
security guard corps. The 700-strong infantry battalion includes 121 officers
and 579 soldiers. Forty-three members have participated in peacekeeping
missions before.
The first batch of
180 female Chinese peacekeepers will fly to South Sudan in January, with the
rest traveling via air and sea next March.
As the largest
contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council, China has deployed more than 27,000 military personnel around the
globe as of September 2014, according to the Ministry of National Defense.
A total of 2,027
Chinese peacekeepers are currently posted in conflict zones.
(Source:
Xinhua&China Daily)