China has dispatched a total of 15,000 soldiers to UN peacekeeping missions worldwide over the past two decades, a high-ranking military official said Thursday. Major General Xu Nanfeng, head of the Chinese delegation to the UN Military Staff Committee, told senior UN officials, including UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy, and diplomats at a reception marking China's Army Day observed on August 1. This year marks the 83rd anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the 20th anniversary of China's participation in UN peacekeeping operations. 'Two decades ago, Chinese officers and soldiers began to engage in the international peacekeeping efforts. For the first time in history, the Chinese PLA presented itself on the world stage,' Xu told some 200 guests present here at the New York residence of the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations. Now, China is one of the most important troops contributing countries in the United Nations, and contributes the largest number of peacekeepers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, he said. Over the past 20 years, the PLA has participated in 18 UN peacekeeping operations, and dispatched a total of 15,000 peacekeepers, with nine of the Chinese peacekeepers lost their lives in the line of duty, Xu said. At present, around 2,000 PLA officers and soldiers are involved in nine of the 15 UN peacekeeping operations. 'In recent years, more and more Chinese officers have worked as organizers and commanders of peacekeeping operations. Some of them have served in important posts such as force commanders, military section chiefs, and staff officers of the UN Headquarters,' Xu said. 'The professionalism, tenaciousness and outstanding performance displayed by Chinese officers and soldiers during the peacekeeping operations have won high acclaim from the UN agencies, governments and people of recipient countries, and the international community,' he added. 