In the first visit to Europe by a Chinese defence minister in more than four years, Dong Jun said Beijing would intensify security exchanges with European countries and boost its role in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Dong’s visit to France and Germany – ahead of his address to the sixth UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin on Wednesday – was not announced in advance by Beijing, and the defence ministry issued only brief statements about the meetings held with his counterparts in Paris and Berlin.
Each statement said that Dong held in-depth exchanges on bilateral relations and pledged to strengthen defence cooperation.
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Sébastien Lecornu, Dong’s French counterpart, said in a social media post on Tuesday that the dialogue was “frank”, given the two countries’ shared responsibilities as nuclear-weapon states and permanent members of the UN Security Council.
According to Lecornu, both sides covered issues including free maritime navigation, the fight against nuclear proliferation, stability in the Indo-Pacific, the security situation in the Middle East, and the return to a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
China has strengthened its defence diplomacy in recent years, portraying itself as a defender of the global order and a source of stability amid the chaos stirred by US President Donald Trump.
Beijing has also been fixing ties with the European Union, at a time when cross-Atlantic rifts are widening under Trump’s second term in the White House. Britain’s top military official Admiral Sir Tony Radakin also made an unannounced visit to Beijing last month.
Despite the thaw, tensions remain between China and Europe. Apart from rifts over the Ukraine war and Chinese manufacturing overcapacity, there are also the issues of Taiwan, the South China Sea, and Europe’s growing security presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Meanwhile, Dong’s European visit coincided with Thursday’s peace talks in Turkey, which saw the Ukrainian and Russian delegations arriving in different cities, and the absence of President Vladimir Putin.
At the UN meeting in Berlin, Dong said that China would continue to be “a steadfast supporter and constructive force” in the organisation’s peacekeeping operations. He also reaffirmed Beijing’s support for its “central role and core position in global security governance”.
According to the transcript of Dong’s speech published on the UN website, around 1,800 Chinese blue helmets are currently operating in seven mission areas. Since China’s first deployment 35 years ago, it has contributed more than 50,000 peacekeepers, he said.
Dong pledged further improvements in China’s peacekeeping capabilities, including an equipment upgrade. “The Chinese side will dynamically refine the capability configuration of our 8,000-strong peacekeeping standby force so that we can meet UN requirements,” he said.
“We will set up a new peacekeeping standby force headquarters team with commanders and staff. We will strengthen the capabilities of quick response and mission support, and incorporate such new-domain capabilities as situational awareness, hi-tech EOD, and anti-UAV systems.”
EOD – explosive ordnance disposal – is one of the major operations for UN peacekeeping missions in war-torn areas.
Dong also said that China would hold six new training courses this year, with more over the next five years, to help participating countries enhance their operational capabilities. New technologies such as unmanned equipment, AI and simulated training will be further leveraged to ensure peacekeeping missions are more efficient and safer, he added.
China announced in 2015 that it would make 8,000 troops available to the UN, completing its registration in 2017. Since then, Beijing has aimed to play a bigger role in peacekeeping missions, while also seeking to gain more real-battle experience for its military.
Retired PLA officer Senior Colonel Zhou Bo, now a senior fellow with Tsinghua University in Beijing, said that China has good reason to strengthen its peacekeeping commitments. Supporting global governance will enhance China’s image as “a responsible nation on a peaceful rise”, which is what China needs most.
“Because the US seems likely to scale back its own role at the UN, China’s commitments will be especially important in the years ahead ... That does not mean that China will replace the US as the UN’s biggest donor. But by supporting peacekeeping further, Beijing can make a difference,” he added.
Reuters reported in April that the Trump administration proposed eliminating funding for UN peacekeeping missions, citing operational failures in Mali, Lebanon and Democratic Republic of Congo.
China is second only to the US as the largest contributor to the United Nations, with Washington accounting for 22 per cent of the US$3.7 billion core regular UN budget and 27 per cent of the US$5.6 billion peacekeeping budget.
The last time a Chinese defence minister set foot in Europe was in March 2021, when Dong’s predecessor Wei Fenghe visited Hungary, Serbia, Greece and North Macedonia. Wei was brought down last year by a corruption investigation.
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