On a mission for world peace
Zhang Zixuan
FOR Zhang Zixuan, a graduate of Shanghai International Studies University, peacekeeping is a mission now.
A French major, Zhang joined the world’s first permanent peacekeeping police force set up in China. She was one of the first seven female university students to join the force.
Zhang said she was in awe of police and soldiers as her mother was a police officer.
A terrorist attack in France made her aware of the importance of world peace.
It was November 2015 when she was an exchange student at University Lyon 2. The terrorist attack at the Paris Opera House forced the authorities to impose curfew several times. It was something that she had never experienced before.
“At that time, I understood how peacekeeping was important to everybody,” she said.
On her return she replied to an ad which was looking for female university graduates to join the peacekeeping police squad in December 2016. In September 2015, President Xi Jinping had pledged to take the lead in setting up a permanent peacekeeping police squad, which came into being in December 2016 in Shandong Province.
Her fluency in French and English languages helped her to join the mission. Her main tasks with UN is the operation of command centers and external liaison.
“The special missions give me a sense of responsibility and strength,” said Zhang.
