The 19th Chinese peacekeeping force to Lebanon Photo: VCG

 The trailer for The Blue Defensive Line, China's first documentary film about the country's first peacekeeping infantry battalion, was released online on Sunday, arousing netizens' curiosity in China's sense of responsibility for the international community.

The trailer rushed to the top of the search charts on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo as thousands of netizens posted comments.

Produced by the August First Film Studio, The Blue Defensive Line is set to release at an unannounced date later in 2020, the 30th anniversary of China's participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations, according to a report from China Central Television.

From 2015 to 2019, the documentary has filmed at locations across China and the African continent, recording and presenting the story of China's first established permanent peacekeeping infantry battalion as they safeguarded the security of local refugee camps in war-torn South Sudan, the report said.

The trailer, one minute and 41 seconds long, shows some interviews with peacekeeping soldiers. One soldier is seen saying goodbye to his family before flying to South Sudan when his son asks him in a low voice: "You won't die, will you, Dad?" 

Many netizens were touched by the scene and commented that he must have missed his family very much.

"The trailer is very short, but I see the vivid details about these peacekeeping soldiers. They are also someone's father, mother, son and daughter, but to protect poor people in other countries, they sacrifice their happy time with their own families or even might sacrifice their own lives. These soldiers should be respected by all of us," a Beijing resident surnamed Meng told the Global Times on Sunday after watching the trailer.

Meng noted that the trailer's trending states says a lot about the film. 

"We should allow more people to see what others contribute to the whole world."

Some netizens commented that they cannot wait to see the film to better understand China's sense of responsibility for internationalcommunity.

The peacekeeping army in the documentary film is mainly responsible for protecting local residents in South Sudan and the staff of UN agencies, as well as joining in humanitarian relief and defense, security and patrol as well as  other tasks, according to a report from Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan.

The year 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of China's participation in UN peacekeeping operations. Since 1990, when China first sent military observers to the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), China has sent more than 40,000 peacekeepers to take part in 26 UN peacekeeping operations, the report said.

In addition to peacekeeping operations, since 1963 China has sent more than 26,000 medical workers to regions in 71 countries around the world in need of medical help, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Ji Bing, a doctor in North China's Shanxi Province who went to Cameroon as an aid doctor in 2019, told the Global Times they trained for eight months before going to the country. The training included learning French to "communicate better with our patients."