China honored its U.N. peacekeepers killed in the Haiti earthquake with a solemn ceremony yesterday marking the return of their bodies to Beijing.
Top police and military officers bowed three times before the eight coffins set out on the runway at Beijing's Capital Airport, in a ceremony broadcast live on nationwide television.
Delivering the eulogy, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Communist Party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, called them martyrs to the cause of world peace.
"Their actions won praise from the U.N. and glory for the Chinese nation," said Zhou, who like other officials present wore a black coat adorned with a white paper flower as a show of mourning.
About 125 Chinese police were in Haiti as part of a 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission seeking to maintain stability in the impoverished, politically volatile nation. The eight had been in a meeting with the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission when the 7.0-magnitude quake struck on Jan. 12 and collapsed the U.N.'s five-story headquarters building.
Family members holding portraits of the dead led an honor guard carrying the flag-draped coffins to white minivans for the trip to Beijing's Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.
Representatives of the military, police and paramilitary People's Armed Police - including some wearing the uniform and light blue berets of U.N. peacekeepers - saluted as the convoy pulled away. Hundreds more stood at attention as it arrived at the cemetery, where leading communists and other honored citizens are interred, while crowds with banners of admiration and mourning lined the route through downtown, which was closed to traffic for more than 10km (6 miles).
The eight were formally named revolutionary martyrs, an honor that confers additional financial compensation for their families, as well as assistance with employment and education.
The ceremony's high profile underscores the importance Beijing attaches to peacekeeping missions. China is taking an increasingly active role in U.N. affairs accordant with its status as one of five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council.
The seven men and one woman, aged 35 to 60, included four members of the peacekeeping contingent and four members of a delegation from the Public Security Ministry's equipment, finance and international cooperation departments.
The oldest member of the delegation, Guo Baoshan, had planned to return to his hometown in the northeastern province of Liaoning for the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February, said a relative quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
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