Born in the 1990s, Xin Yuan is a modern woman with impressive accomplishments. She is a mother of a two-year-old child, a brave soldier, and the recipient of an honorary certificate from the UN for being an outstanding peacekeeper.

Xin is not the only female Chinese peacekeeper playing an increasingly important role in UN peacekeeping missions. According to the white paper on China's Armed Forces in UN Peacekeeping Operations, released by China's State Council Information Office on September 18, over the past 30 years, among the 40,000 peacekeepers dispatched by China since it first participated in UN peacekeeping missions in 1990, nearly 1,000 have been women.

The female peacekeepers were deployed in Lebanon, Liberia, South Sudan, Mali and other countries, and include not only medical personnel, but also military observers, infantry and police officers.

Guardians of peace

As a peacekeeper, the aim of each mission is to prevent and resolve conflicts as well as promote peace and development.

Xin was assigned to the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in October 2019. As a senior mine clearance officer of the Combat Engineering Office and also the only female officer to be in charge of minesweeping, her main job is to undertake minesweeping planning, and supervising troops' minesweeping operations.

In order to complete this task effectively, Xin took a risk by going into the minefield with a minesweeping squad. After assessing the situation, she devised a plan and completed the sweep of more than 1,500 square meters of minefields well ahead of schedule.

To recognize Xin's achievements in demining, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col presented her with the UN Certificate of Recognition award.

"My experience of peacekeeping has fully proven that female peacekeepers can play the same role under the same difficult conditions as their male counterparts," said Xin.

According to Stefano Del Col, Xin's efforts also proved that female peacekeepers can be role models in a male-dominated society and inspire local women and girls by promoting their participation in peace and political processes, and encourage women to fight for gender equality and women's rights.

Currently, China still has 85 service women engaged in UN peacekeeping missions and at the UN Headquarters. These include participating in medical support, liaison, coordination, demining, explosive ordnance disposal, patrol, observation, gender equality promotion, and protection of women and children, according to Luo Wei, Director General of the Peacekeeping Affairs Center of the Ministry of National Defense.

Protecting civilians

Guns, death, poverty and long patrols across swamps and deserts - this is a hard life for any young woman.

Yet this was the path that Zhang Yuanyuan chose. She was 23 when deployed in 2015 to Juba, capital of South Sudan, as part of China's first female infantry squad to serve in a UN peacekeeping mission. The squad had 13 service members.

Zhang can never forget her first long-distance patrol that year in which "bullets were zipping over camp and [our] heads."

During the patrol, a large-scale conflict between the South Sudan military and anti-government rebels broke out near the temporary operational base, where Zhang was stationed.

Along with her fellow soldiers, she immediately went to the nearby village to assist civilians. There she noticed a teenage boy shepherding three younger boys running about in fear of the flying bullets. Zhang took all the four boys to the military protection zone of the Chinese peacekeeping force.

After 11 days on patrol, Zhang and her squad finally completed their first mission to ensure the warring factions had ceased fire. More than 700 refugees had come to their camp for safety during the conflict.

"It is our mission to protect the safety of civilians and I feel proud of my commitment," said Zhang. She still remember that day when James [the teenage boy] held her hand, smiled at her and said, "Thank you, sister." It was then that she realized that every hardship is worth it in the end.

Messengers of friendship

Chinese military peacekeepers are not only guardians of peace, but also messengers of friendship.

The Chinese medical units in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ran a twinning project in the SOS Children's Village Bukavu to offer help. Touched by the love and care of the units, children in the village called the female members their Chinese mothers.

Hu Wenjiang was a doctor with the 18th Chinese peacekeeping medical detachment to Bukavu. At first, when she arrived in Bukavu in 2015, she found a little boy was always looking at her secretly from a distance.

"After asking others the reason for this, I was told that I looked like a female member of the previous medical team, and the little boy always referred to her as the Chinese mother," said Hu. After the "mother" finished her mission and went back to China, the little boy cried for several days.

Deeply touched by the close bond between local people and the peacekeepers, Hu was determined to continue this legacy of passing on love and care, being not only a medical staffer, but also a messenger of friendship.

According to the UN, women's participation in peacekeeping can make peacekeeping operations more caring and empathetic. They are more easily accepted by the local people and can help the team to integrate into the local community, and communicate effectively with the locals.

In addition to medical assistance and a caring attitude, during their missions the Chinese female peacekeepers also introduced the children to the world of Chinese culture, broadening their scope of life and bringing about joy and solace.

When Hu's group of peacekeepers concluded their mission, the children in the village asked if they could have a Chinese national flag as a souvenir.

"The children may have yet to grasp what China is really like, but they are already showing signs of attachment to us Chinese peacekeepers. We seem to be among the most familiar people [to them] other than their teachers," said Hu.

Hu believed it was this type of connection that sowed deep seeds of friendship between Chinese and DRC highlighting the true spirit of peacekeeping.

(Print Edition Title: Angels of Steel)   

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