China to become second-largest contributor to UN peacekeeping budget

China’s contribution will rise from 6.6 per cent to 10.3 per cent

The second batch of Chinese peacekeepers receive the United Nations peacekeeping flag from their predecessors in Juba, South Sudan Photo: Xinhua

By Wang Mengzhen

5:49PM BST 06 Jun 2016

China is set to be the second-largest contributor to United Nations peacekeeping costs from 2016 to 2018, just behind the United States, accounting for 10.2 per cent of the total.

Hervé Ladsous, UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, confirmed the big increase in funding from Beijing during an interview in preparation for his visit to China this month.

Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, had said last December that China’s contribution to the UN peacekeeping operations budget would rise from 6.6 per cent to 10.3 per cent, surpassing Japan for the first time.

More than 3,000 Chinese peacekeepers are now deployed in 10 missions worldwide

Beijing will also pay 7.92 per cent of the total UN regular budget from 2016 to 2018, making it the third-largest contributor among 193 member states after the US and Japan.

Wang added that as long as the membership fee was calculated justly, impartially and reasonably, China would shoulder its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

The new batch marks the completion of work conducted by China's first full infantry battalion for a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan  Photo: Xinhua

On his trip, Ladsous was due to discuss China’s offer of 8,000 troops, announced last year. This comes as the UN is planning to pull together a standby force of 15,000 for quick deployment to conflict zones.

Ladsous said China's latest offer was “remarkable”, and he voiced his appreciation of Beijing’s peacekeeping forces to South Sudan and a squadron of transport helicopters to Sudan.

China joined UN peacekeeping operations 25 years ago, and it has become the top contributor of troops among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. More than 3,000 Chinese peacekeepers are now deployed in 10 missions worldwide, including South Sudan, Lebanon and Mali.