China's J-20 fighter jet put into service: spokesman
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BEIJING, (APP): China's latest J-20 stealth fighter has been officially commissioned into military service.
"The flight tests are being conducted as scheduled," Spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense Wu Qian said while addressing a press conference here.
He said the J-20 is China's fourth-generation medium and long-range fighter jet.
It made its maiden flight in 2011 and was first shown to the public at the 11th Airshow China in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, in November last year.
The spokesperson said that a 8,000-strong standby peacekeeping force had been registered by China at the UN.
It is in accordance with UN requirements for its new peacekeeping capability readiness system.
The standby force would play a constructive role in maintaining world peace and regional stability, said Wu.
Troops from China's ground force, navy, air force and logistics force will undertake tasks such as combat readiness training and disaster relief in China before any missions overseas.
As one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, China has dispatched the most troops on UN peacekeeping missions, and provided major funding for operations.
Since joining UN peacekeeping operations in 1990, Chinese troops have been deployed 24 times, with over 36,000 personnel dispatched. A total of 2,506 UN peacekeepers from China are currently on missions in eight locations.
