No request for more peacekeepers

China's Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday it has not received a United Nations' invitation to send more peacekeepers to South Sudan.

Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said China will make "comprehensive consideration of various factors and examine the related matters" if the UN submits such a request.

There are 331 Chinese UN peacekeepers in South Sudan, including an engineering team, a medical team and several military observers, the ministry said.

The Chinese embassy in South Sudan said about half of the 2,300 Chinese living in the country have been evacuated from the conflict area, while 570 remain in Juba, the capital.

China National Petroleum Corp has started to evacuate its Chinese workers from the country, with 314 of them scheduled to arrive in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on Thursday.

- Zhang Fan

(China Daily 12/27/2013 page11)