People’s Daily – Beirut
The Chinese Embassy in Lebanon celebrated the 98th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army last Tuesday at the Central Military Club in Beirut. The ceremony was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Chen Chuandong and more than 350 people from the Lebanese government, parliament, political parties, the diplomatic corps, military attachés, UN organizations, and Chinese residents in Lebanon.
In his speech, the Military Attaché at the Chinese Embassy in Lebanon, Brigadier General Liu Zhao, emphasized the importance of “building a strong people’s army to maintain world peace and stability.” He said, “On August 1, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will celebrate the 98th anniversary of its founding. Over the past 98 years, under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has achieved immortal achievements in the cause of the independence and liberation of the Chinese people and the achievement of national prosperity. It has provided strong support for safeguarding national sovereignty, national security, and development interests, and has made significant contributions to maintaining world peace and tranquility.”
The military attaché emphasized that “China is willing to work with all just forces that care about world peace to draw wisdom and strength from the lessons learned from World War II and the great victory achieved in the anti-fascist war, to firmly oppose all forms of hegemony and power politics, to jointly safeguard the difficult-to-come peaceful life, and to strive to create a better future for humanity.” He continued that the responsibility of a major power is to steadfastly maintain global peace and stability, and China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order. Chinese President Xi Jinping has put forward the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the World Civilization Initiative, which have promoted the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and contributed Chinese wisdom to global peace and development. The Chinese military is fulfilling its responsibilities as a major military power, constantly providing more public security products, and always making new and greater contributions to maintaining global peace and stability.
The military attaché explained that the Chinese military attaches great importance to developing friendly relations with the Lebanese Armed Forces, and continues to deepen cooperation in personnel training, group visits, peacekeeping operations, and civilian protection, in order to enhance traditional bilateral friendship and practical cooperation. Last September, Lebanese security forces, including the Lebanese Armed Forces, and Lebanese government agencies provided strong support to ensure the safe evacuation of Chinese citizens in Lebanon. In July of this year, China held the “Sharp Sword 2025” International Sniper Competition in Xinjiang Province. Approximately 50 sniper teams from more than 20 countries, including Lebanon, participated in the competition, enhancing exchanges and cooperation between the participating parties.
He added: “Over the 19 years since the Chinese military began participating in peacekeeping operations in Lebanon, China has sent more than 8,300 peacekeepers to Lebanon. These forces have excavated nearly two million square meters of suspected minefields and explosives-strewn areas, and 14,200 meters of patrol routes along the Blue Line. They have also discovered and destroyed more than 18,000 mines and other types of unexploded ordnance, and cleared and maintained more than 300 minefield passages.” Chinese peacekeeping forces have carried out more than 13,000 engineering support missions of various types, paved over 180,000 square meters of land, built over 11,000 meters of roads, donated medicines, daily necessities, and school supplies to local schools and neighboring villages more than 200 times, provided medical treatment to more than 90,000 local military and civilian personnel, and performed more than 2,500 surgeries.
He added: “China recently dispatched an additional 65 peacekeepers to meet urgent mine clearance and engineering construction needs in southern Lebanon. Since the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel began, Chinese peacekeepers have cleared over 60,000 square meters of hazardous areas in the mission area, removed over 30 barriers, and repaired over 1,600 meters of roads, providing safe “green corridors” for local residents to return to their homes. Chinese peacekeeping forces provided medical treatment to more than 1,000 local residents and people with disabilities, donated educational supplies to local schools, renovated educational facilities, and organized vocational skills training courses for young people, enhancing friendship and mutual trust. He added, “China has long been a supportive country and a constructive force in UN peacekeeping operations, and supports the reform of UN peacekeeping operations and their transformation to serve the common security and well-being of all humanity. China is the largest participant in UN peacekeeping operations among the permanent members of the Security Council and the second largest contributor, always maintaining a reserve force of 8,000 troops. Over the past 35 years, the Chinese military has dispatched more than 50,000 peacekeepers to carry out 26 operations in more than 20 countries and regions, including Lebanon. Seventeen officers and soldiers, including Martyr Du Zhaoyue, sacrificed their precious youth for the cause of UN peacekeeping.”
He pointed out that, “In accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the Chinese military has dispatched a fleet of Chinese naval vessels to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters to perform maritime escort missions since 2008. Since May 2025, 47 escort fleets have been dispatched to escort more than 1,600 vessels, rescuing and escorting nearly 100 vessels of various types, including more than 50% foreign vessels, providing safety and hope to vessels sailing in the mission area.”
He continued: “The Chinese military has actively participated in international natural disaster rescue operations and provided humanitarian aid. It has also participated in numerous operations to combat the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, provide relief to earthquake victims in Nepal, and rescue operations in Tonga. The Chinese Navy’s hospital ship “Peace Ark” has traveled to 49 countries and regions to carry out 10 missions within the “Harmony” series, serving more than 370,000 people from various countries.”