posted 05-03-2004 11:22 PM            

COMING SOON TO A BANKRUPTED, CORRUPTED COUNTRY NEAR YOU. MABYE EVEN TO GO DOOR
TO DOOR LOOKING FOR YOUR GUNS DURING MARTIAL
LAW.

COMMIE CHINESE UN "PEACEKEEPERS"

OH...BUT DON'T TALK BAD ABOUT THE UN....YOUR NOT A "KOOK" ARE YOU??

China Shows Off U.N. Peacekeeping School
Mon May 3, 2:26 AM ET

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

LANGFANG, China - The English lesson is titled "Disturbance," and the students are equally unusual — 38 police officers training to become U.N. peacekeepers and join China's effort to expand its diplomatic role on the world stage.

In a classroom at a police academy south of Beijing, the students prepare to fight crime in trouble areas abroad by reading a mock burglary investigation.

"What's your information about why the door was open?" the students mouth the words silently, following a voice in their headphones. "Come to the station and we'll take your testimony."

The students are a key part of a striking trend for Chinese foreign policy as Beijing, easing out of its reluctance to get involved in foreign conflicts, takes a growing role in U.N. peacekeeping duty.

China's first major U.N. duty was a 1992-94 mission in Cambodia by 800 military engineers. It sent police on their first U.N. mission in East Timor in 2001, and since then has sent 232 officers to Bosnia, Liberia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

China's police peacekeepers are law enforcement veterans, some with nearly 20 years of service. They pass a demanding screening process that tests physical fitness and professional skills.

"This is an international duty for our police officers, and it's also a way for me to learn other skills from police from other countries," said Zhu Yinghua, a female student from the Shanghai police who came to the school in April.

The peacekeeping initiative coincides with sweeping changes in China's formerly passive foreign policy. Over the past two years, Beijing has engaged more with its Southeast and Central Asian neighbors and held military drills with India and France.

Some Western scholars suggest that its role in U.N. peacekeeping could signal a softening of China's traditionally rigid view of sovereignty and nonintervention in other countries' affairs.

Despite China's growing peacekeeping role, its police school was off-limits to foreign reporters until now. The Public Security Ministry allowed The Associated Press to visit last week in what officers said was the first visit ever by foreign reporters.

Chinese soldiers train for U.N. duties at a separate facility near Beijing that still is closed to reporters.

The police school is preparing to move soon into a custom-built campus rising from a former feed lot surrounded by fruit trees. The price is $18 million — a big investment for a country with an average annual income of less than $1,000 per person.

Construction workers are completing indoor and outdoor firing ranges, a sports field, a driving course, and gleaming new classrooms.

The new campus will allow China to train about 250 police officers at a time, said police Senior Col. Qu Zhiwen, a compact, commanding figure who has been the school's director since shortly after China began training police for U.N. duty in 1999.

One day, China hopes to train peacekeepers from other Asian nations, Qu said, a proud smile creasing his tanned face.

"I think this is a real sign of the importance China places on peacekeeping work," he said.

The school has brought in guest lecturers from police forces in Norway, Ireland and elsewhere to create an "international environment" for recruits, Qu said.

Applicants must be at least 25 years old, with at least five years of police experience.

The three-month course includes police techniques, land mine detection, driving and English.

Classes include human rights and media relations. Such issues didn't matter much until lately for a Chinese police force whose major task is protecting Communist rule. But they are getting growing attention as Beijing prepares to host the 2008 Olympics.

Students' biggest problems are with English and driving, Qu said. Few own cars and they need special training in driving on rough roads.

But at the conclusion, more than 80 percent pass the U.N. test to become peacekeepers.

Chinese peacekeepers haven't suffered any casualties abroad, but hazards include dengue fever and car crashes.

Peacekeeping service can be a career booster, especially if it results in U.N. awards or promotion within the United Nations operation.

Chinese officers "carry a heavy political and national responsibility," said Gao Xinman, who headed the Performance Assessment Office in the Bosnia mission.