Bodies of Chinese peacekeeping police killed in Haiti earthquake arrive home

Soldiers carry the coffins of the eight peacekeeping police officers who died in the Haiti earthquake at the airport in Beijing, China, Jan. 19, 2010. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The bodies of eight Chinese peacekeeping police officers killed in last week's earthquake in Haiti were returned to Beijing in an emotional homecoming ceremony Tuesday.

Zhou Yongkang, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, joined families and colleagues of the officers, as their coffins were escorted off the China Southern Airlines Boeing 747 at Beijing Capital International Airport.

Frequent weepings broke out among the mourners who all dressed in dark colors and carried banners reading, "Salute the peacekeeping heroes," and "Deep respect for Chinese peacekeeping police officers who died in the Haiti earthquake."

Zhou Yongkang (front), a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, delivers a speech during the homecoming ceremony for the eight peacekeeping police officers who died in the Haiti earthquake at the Beijing Capital International Airport, in Beijing, China, Jan. 19, 2010. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglong)

Many of them carried pictures of the deceased, and boards that read, "Brother, we are here to see you home."

"I still cannot believe he's gone," said Guo Sulan, a relative of Guo Baoshan, the oldest of the eight Chinese peacekeepers who died.

"He phoned us just a few days ago and said he would come back to our hometown for the Spring Festival family reunion. Now he will never come," said Guo, who flew to Beijing from Heishan County in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

Wearing a white paper flower on his chest and a black armband, Zhou Yongkang led the mourners in bowing three times before the coffins draped in Chinese national flags.

"We stand here heavy-hearted," Zhou said in a speech delivered at the ceremony, after solemnly bowing once again to the coffins and pictures of the officers.

Soldiers carry the coffins of the eight peacekeeping police officers who died in the Haiti earthquake at the airport in Beijing, China, Jan. 19, 2010. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

The officers were "outstanding representatives of China's police and excellent sons and daughters of the Chinese nation," he said.

Four of the victims were officers of China's peacekeeping force in Haiti, and the rest were part of a team sent by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to Haiti for peacekeeping consultations.

Their bodies were found in the debris of the U.N. mission headquarters in Port-au-Prince on Saturday and Sunday.

The officers were: Zhu Xiaoping, 48, director of the MPS equipment and finance department; Guo Baoshan, 60, deputy director of the ministry's international cooperation department; Wang Shulin, 58, and Li Xiaoming, 35, both researchers at the MPS; and Zhao Huayu, 38, Li Qin, 47, Zhong Jianqin, 35, and He Zhihong, 35, all with China's peacekeeping force in Haiti. The only woman among them was He.

The Ministry of Public Security has posthumously conferred upon each of them the title of "Revolutionary Martyr," and promised compensation to the relatives.

The officers sacrificed their lives for the cause of world peace, Zhou said, adding their sacrifice would not be forgotten by people in China, in Haiti, and across the world.

He said China was a peace-loving country, and it had fulfilled its international obligations and shouldered its responsibilities as a major power by sending peacekeepers to other countries and regions in support of United Nations missions.

More than 1,500 Chinese peacekeepers had been dispatched to seven countries and regions since 2000, he said, speaking highly of their contributions to world peace and harmony.

Before the ceremony, Zhou Yongkang visited representatives of families of the eight peacekeepers, and conveyed his condolences on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, and the CPC Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao.

"The loss is a regret and deep sorrow for the Chinese people," Zhou Yongkang told the relatives.

"The Party and the government will definitely pull you through the tough time," he said.

All mourners stood to attention at the end of the ceremony as the coffins were carried to a slow dirge to eight white hearses which left the airport for the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in western Beijing.

It would take more than an hour for the hearses to travel 44.7 kilometers from the airport to Babaoshan.

The hearses also passed by the Ministry of Public Security, where four of the eight peacekeepers worked.

A Chinese national flag in front of the ministry hang at half-mast, and would remain so for three days to mourn the eight peacekeepers.

"It is not easy to carry out peacekeeping missions, but we have to hold on to it," said Wang Feiping, a director with the ministry's Border Control Department.

"Farewell, my friends," he said.

Across China, people bid farewell to the eight peacekeeping police officers in different ways.

Actor Jackie Chan completed a song titled "Take You Home" together with singer Tan Jing early Tuesday. The song was aired on the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) before the live broadcast of Tuesday's homecoming ceremony at the Beijing airport.

(Xinhua correspondents Hu Hao, Qu Jing, Zou Wei and Li Huizi in Beijing contributed to the story.)

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