The 2015 Leaders’ Summit on UN peacekeeping was historic: countries combined to commit more than 40,000 troops and police to UN peacekeeping. In addition, more than 50 countries pledged more than 40 helicopters, 15 engineering companies and 10 field hospitals.

Despite the costs, China is right to join UN peacekeeping missions

This is where China can assist. At the leaders’ summit, no offers could match what President Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) announced: that China would take the lead to set up a permanent peacekeeping police squad; build a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops and train 2,000 foreign peacekeepers in the next five years. China will also provide a total of US$100 million of free military aid for the African Union to support the establishment of the African Standby Force and the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis.

President Xi Jinping’s pledges at UN show that China can meet its global responsibilities

This is a sea change in Beijing’s attitude towards peacekeeping. An 8,000-strong standby force plus about 3,000 peacekeepers currently deployed overseas would allow China to overtake Pakistan, Indian and Bangladesh to become the largest contributor to the peacekeeping force. Over two decades, Beijing has taken an incremental but cautious approach towards peacekeeping. The troops selected, such as medical, engineering and transport units, only provide logistical support and are therefore considered less “sensitive”. It was not until 2013 that Beijing decided to send armed infantry soldiers to Mali, 23 years after the first military observers were sent to the Middle East.

Beijing has good reason to beef up its peacekeeping efforts. First, China’s peacekeeping contributes to its image of a peaceful rise. There is no better way for China to convince the world of its peaceful intent than by helping with global governance as a responsible power. Given China’s growing influence, it is important that it finds ways to help the world. As one of the permanent members of the Security Council and the second-largest economy in the world, China can contribute more, even at the cost of necessary sacrifice (11 servicemen have died so far).

World has little to fear from China’s growing military

Secondly, the Chinese military’s overseas missions such as peacekeeping, anti-piracy, humanitarian aid and disaster relief justify why China needs to maintain the largest armed forces in the world. The Chinese military can help preserve an international order from which China has already benefited tremendously. In its 2015 defence white paper, Beijing underwrites safeguarding regional and world peace as one of its eight “strategic tasks”.

Thirdly, impartiality and the non-use of force except in self-defence, two fundamental principles in peacekeeping, touch a chord with China’s foreign policy and military ethos. The former is closest to China’s tradition of non-interference. The latter is a perfect reminder of Chinese strategist Sun Tzu’s advice in the art of war: subduing the enemy without using force.