Xi Focus: Building a peace-loving world-class military

As China keeps building up its national defense and armed forces, the defensive nature of the country's national defense policy remains unchanged.

"This is written into the National Defense Law, becoming a basic, abiding and long-term policy we uphold," said He Lei, a national lawmaker and former deputy head of the Academy of Military Sciences.

International public security goods were also provided during the PLA's recent exchanges and cooperation with its counterparts around the world.

Over the past 30 years, China has sent over 40,000 peacekeepers to 25 UN peacekeeping missions, according to a white paper on China's United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Operations released last September.

China is the second-largest contributor to both peacekeeping assessment and UN membership fees, and the largest troop contributor among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, said the white paper.

China never seeks hegemony or expansion and firmly opposes hegemonism and power politics, Xi said.

Instead, the Chinese military has tasked itself with the mission of building a community with a shared future for humanity, taking an active part in international disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in the wake of COVID-19.

Since February this year, China's armed forces have provided 25 batches of COVID-19 vaccine assistance to armed forces of over 20 countries including Pakistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Sudan.

The Chinese military will always be a staunch defender of world peace, said Xi.