UN chief praises China's peacekeeping efforts

BEIJING - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised China's commitment to peacekeeping efforts on Wednesday during a visit to a peacekeeping training base in Beijing.

Ban said China has provided more peacekeepers to the United Nations than all the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Ban inspected training facilities and communicated with Chinese medical staff dispatched to South Sudan for a peacekeeping mission, stating that he was impressed with the facilities he saw.

China has dispatched 22,000 peacekeeping troops on 23 UN peacekeeping missions to date. Nine of the peacekeepers died while performing their duties.