23314: (Chamberlain) China boosts profile with U.N. mission to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     LANGFANG, China, Sept 29 (Reuters) - China is to deploy riot police in
Haiti next month as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission there, seeking to
boost its profile internationally.
     China has participated in peacekeeping missions since 2000 in East
Timor, Liberia and Kosovo, among other places, but it has never sent combat
troops.
     The 125-member team in Haiti will be its first contingent of riot
police.
     The team will have their work cut out for them in Haiti, reeling from
floods last week that killed thousands and struggling to recover from a
revolt that forced former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile in
February.
     Tan Jun, who heads the Peacekeeping Division at the Ministry of Public
Security, told reporters China has participated in six missions since early
2000.
     "This shows we're making great contributions in the peacekeeping units
of the U.N. I believe China will make even greater contributions to U.N.
peacekeeping missions in the future," he said at an $18 million
peacekeeping training centre east of Beijing that will be completed next
month.
     China has been accused of not shouldering its fair share of the United
Nations' burden as a permanent member of the Security Council. But it has
been cultivating a higher profile in international affairs, playing host to
recent six-party talks aimed at resolving North Korea's nuclear crisis.
     On Wednesday, the troops demonstrated their readiness, marching in
formation in their blue U.N. helmets, with others showing their skills at a
shooting range and practising English.
     "According to the information we have received from the U.N., lately
the Haiti police organisation has been really damaged," said Zhao Xiaoxun,
captain of the riot police unit for Haiti.
     "Our main responsibility for this mission is to help the peacekeeping
troops -- the most important thing is to train the local police," he said
after surveying his troops showing off martial arts moves worthy of Jackie
Chan.
     An advance party of 30 police officers left for Haiti, the poorest
country in the Americas, in mid-September. They will be joined by the
remainder of the unit in early October.
     China does not have diplomatic relations with Haiti, which recognises
the self-governing island of Taiwan, but Tan said the decision to send
police there was at the request of the United Nations and was unrelated to
politics.
     "It is all the same, whether it is in Kosovo, East Timor or other
nations," he said.