Ban wants to China to do more for UN peace missions

Ahead of his China visit, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said Beijing's bigger role in UN peace keeping missions and promotion of sustainable development would dominate his talks with the country's new leadership here.
The UN Secretary-General who would be visiting China for four days from June 18 told official media here that he is looking forward to meeting members of the new Chinese leadership and he hopes to see "an even bigger and stronger partnership" between the UN and China.
"I am really looking forward to meeting the new leadership," he told state-run Xinhua news agency on his first visit to Beijing after the once-in-a decade leadership change in China in March this year.

China and the United Nations have been maintaining a strong partnership and they could be even closer partners on issues such as the promotion of sustainable development, he said.
On China's role in the UN affairs, Ban said, "I hope China will do more for the whole contribution to the international community starting from peacekeeping operations and also contributing to the international communities on going efforts to define a sustainable development agenda where the sustainable development goals will be at this core."
When asked about his agenda for the upcoming China trip, the UN chief said that he will discuss with the Chinese leaders many regional issues including the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the situation in Syria, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He said he expects that China will continue to play a very constructive role in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in facilitating dialogue between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, "thus, reducing the tension on the Korean Peninsula."
The UN chief added such efforts will benefit beyond the peninsula and be conducive to peace and harmony in Northeast Asia. Ban praised efforts by China to defuse tension on the peninsula.
"I would like to have more in-depth discussions with President Xi Jinping and other leaders on how China can contribute further to the reduction of tension on the Korean Peninsula," he said.