China said today it would send 1,000 peacekeepers to help maintain the truce in Lebanon, a move seen as showing Beijing's growing willingness to engage in international affairs.

Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, announced the decision during a press conference with Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister, this morning.

"China has decided to increase its peacekeeping force in Lebanon to 1,000," said Mr Wen, who added that Beijing would also send a total of 40 million yuan (£2.7 million) in aid to the country. "China is very concerned about the situation in Lebanon and hopes it can be fundamentally resolved."

China sent 182 peacekeepers to Lebanon in March as part of the United Nation’s Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), which has been present in the country since the 1970s. During the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah this summer, a Chinese military observer was one of four UN peacekeepers killed when their bunker was shelled repeatedly by Israeli artillery.

Beijing initially increased the number of Chinese soldiers in the country to 240 after the UN appealed for contributions to an international force of up to 15,000 peacekeepers, known as "Unifil II", which is intended to police the hostile borderlands of southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

But last week, after talks with Mr Wen, Jacques Chirac, the French President, said that China could send a larger deployment and become one of the principal contributors to the force. So far France, Italy and Germany have all promised at least 2,000 troops, with Spain and Turkey both offering around 1,000.

Signor Prodi said China's willingness to commit peacekeepers in the Middle East reflected a larger shift towards a more active role in international affairs for the world's most populous country, which under Mao and his communist successors refused to take part in such missions, despite a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

"With China’s assistance, peace can come sooner to Lebanon," said Signor Prodi. "In the future the Israel-Palestine issue must also be resolved, and all countries must participate in this through the United Nations, and China can also participate."

China started contributing personnel to UN missions in 1990. After the death of Lieutenant Colonel Du Zhaoyu in Lebanon, the Chinese Ministry of Defence said it had sent around 5,600 troops on 15 missions, of whom 8 had been killed.

Jocelyn Coulon, a researcher of peacekeeping missions at the University of Montreal, said the deployment marked a break in Chinese foreign policy.

"This would be the first time that China will deploy such a large military force," he told the AFP news agency.

"One question worth knowing is whether these troops will be put on patrol along the border between Israel and Lebanon, or at infrastructure projects. It has been noted that in peacekeeping operations the Chinese try to avoid human losses and try to deploy their units in places where they won’t have contact with other parties involved and are not in a position where they will have to shoot."

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