<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><br><div><h1 class="headline">Vietnam to Participate in UN Peacekeeping Missions</h1>
<div class="show_tools g_5">
<img src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/Site/byline_ap.gif" alt="" border="0">
</div>
<div style="height: 18px;" id="date_partner">
</div><div class="byline_date">
<div style="width: 485px;" class="byline_date_inner">
<div class="date">HANOI, Vietnam February 26, 2013 (AP)<br><br></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="top: 30px; left: 430px; display: block;" id="sponsoredByAd">
<span id="sponsoredbylogo1"><span id="_fw_container_sponsoredbylogo1"></span></span>
</div>
<div>
</div><div>
Vietnam says it will begin participating in United Nation's peacekeeping
operations from early next year, a further sign that the Southeast
Asian nation wants to assume a bigger role in international affairs.</div><div><br></div>
<div>
Facing a rising demand, the U.N. has publicly appealed for countries to
send more troops and police officers to help carry out its peacekeeping
missions around the world. Vietnam didn't say how large a contribution
it was prepared to make. Most of the 115 participating countries
currently make only token contributions of less than 40 people.</div><div><br></div>
<div>
State-controlled Tien Phong newspaper on Tuesday quoted Vice Defense
Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh as telling visiting assistant General Secretary
Edmond Mulet that Vietnamese troops would be available from early next
year. The report gave few other details.</div><div><br></div>
<div>
Vietnam opened its economy to foreign investment in the 1990s and has
followed a steady policy of embracing regional and international
institutions. But the communist rulers of the country's 87 million
people have shown no sign of relaxing bans on freedom of speech and
political activism even as they seek greater global clout.</div><div><br></div>
<div>
Countries contribute troops to the U.N. for a variety of reasons,
including national prestige, the ability to influence individual
missions and a perception that doing so may help in bids for elected
seats at the world body. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged in
2011 that sourcing peacekeepers was a major problem, saying he had been
"begging leaders to make resources available to us."</div><div><br></div>
<div>
There are currently 15 U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world.
Bangladesh is currently the biggest contributor, with more than 8,000
personnel, closely followed by Pakistan and India. The United States
and most European countries, while being the major bankrollers behind
the peacekeeping program, mostly prefer to deploy their troops with NATO
and EU or other Western-led missions.</div><div><br></div>
<div>
A study last year by International Peace Institute placed Vietnam among
33 countries that had potential to either begin contributing troops or
significantly strengthen their commitment. Vietnam's neighbor, and
fellow communist state, China, is a moderate contributor that the study
said could become a larger player.</div><br></div><div><font size="1"><br><br></font><br></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span></span></div><div></div></div></body></html>