Chinese Bid Farewell to Peacekeepers

The Chinese have paid their respects and bid farewell to eight peacekeeping police officers who were killed in the 7.3-magnitude earthquake last week in Haiti.

Top leaders including Chinese president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao attended the farewell ceremony this morning in Beijing.

Chen Zhe filed the report from the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.

It's a cold winter morning in Beijing. The sky is grey. Chinese police officers wearing uniforms with white paper flowers attached come here to bid farewell to their colleagues.

Zhao Xiaohong is a peacekeeper who used to work with the deceased.

"We may feel differently from the public because we lost our best friends and comrades. We couldn't believe this really happened. As a peacekeeper, I think we will carry on their will to continue to work for the world's peacekeeping cause."

Thousands of Beijing citizens also come to Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery hours earlier before the farewell ceremony begins at 9 o'clock. Some are holding flowers and banners, reading "Rest in peace, Heroes". Some come afar from other cities of China.

"I'm from Tangshan in Hebei Province. I got the news from TV and came here to bid farewell. I'm so sad. After all, they were still so young."

"I'm from Tianjin. One of the deceased is a friend of my wife. It's so sad."

"We're proud of them. They are heroes of our generation."

Of the victims, four were officers of China's peacekeeping force in Haiti and the rest were in a team sent by the Ministry of Public Security of China to Port-au-Prince for peacekeeping consultations.

The eight were meeting UN officials in the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Port-au-Prince when the quake struck on Tuesday, a day which also marked a decade of China's peacekeeping mission.

As a peace loving country, China had fulfilled its international obligations and shouldered its responsibilities as a major power in the world by sending out peacekeeping police to other countries and regions in support of UN missions. More than 1,500 Chinese peacekeeping police officers had been dispatched in seven countries and regions since 2000.

Chen Zhe, CRI news.