The Chinese government has dispatched a team of 257 soldiers for a 12-month United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia.
The soldiers left Beijing for Liberia on Monday morning.
They are the first team of the 18th batch of Chinese peacekeepers sent on tour since 2003 when China joined the peacekeeping mission in Liberia under the UN Security Council’s Resolution 1509. The second team is scheduled to set off o September 17.
The 18 batch has a total of 508 soldiers, consisting of a 275-member engineering battalion, a 190-member transport battalion and a 43-member medical team.
All the member soldiers are drawn from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Beijing Military Area Command.
Their mission includes infrastructure work such as roads and bridges constructions, residential areas repairs, maintenance and repairs of the country’s airports and reconditioning power and water facilities.
The soldiers are also tasked with transporting materials and personnel, providing medical services, contagious and epidemic disease prevention and control.
The first batch of the 17th battalion will return to China on September 9 after handing over their work to their successors, after which the second batch will return on September 18.
