BEIJING, Nov. 20, 2009 (Kyodo News International) -- The U.N. peacekeeping chief thanked China on Friday for currently contributing some 2,100 personnel to U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world, making it now the top contributor among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
Alain Le Roy, the U.N. under secretary general for peacekeeping operations, also said in a meeting with reporters after talks with Chinese defense officials that China has committed to steadily increase its participation in U.N. peacekeeping.
''I understand that they are considering sending combat troops, but no decision has been made at this stage,'' said Le Roy, who is in Beijing for a peacekeeping symposium.
While China currently does not provide combat troops, it has beefed up its involvement since it began participating in U.N. peacekeeping activities in 1990, contributing engineers, logistical services and medical facilities from the People's Liberation Army, and civilian police forces.
Its expanded role, coupled with its close ties with governments like that of Sudan where U.N. peacekeepers are deployed amid the prolonged crisis in Darfur, has led to suspicions that the country's peacekeeping involvement is largely motivated by economic interests.
Dismissing this, Le Roy said China's involvement in countries like Lebanon and Haiti where it has no significant economic interests show its involvement is not driven by economics.
Beijing's participation in peacekeeping is part of its ''overseas diplomacy,'' he said, adding that its close relationship with certain countries is in fact a plus for peacekeeping operations.
''When they are with us, if they can have some leverage in some specific countries, we try to make the best use of it,'' Le Roy said. ''It is to our advantage to have them, of course, because they have some influence which other countries don't have.''
He said China is currently the 14th largest contributor of personnel to U.N. peacekeeping operations around the world, which involve more than 115,000 military, police and civilian personnel and a budget of some $7.8 billion a year, at a time when available resources are in danger of shrinking.
The roles of ''blue helmets,'' as U.N. peacekeepers are popularly called, has grown more complex as their responsibilities expand to cover protection of civilians even as they increasingly face challenges from armed groups.
At the same time, according to an April report by the International Crisis Group, ''demand for blue helmets far outpaces supply, and shows no sign of abating,'' while Western countries have been withdrawing or reducing their commitments.
