About 380 more Chinese soldiers will join United Nations peacekeeping missions, bringing the total to nearly 3,100 by the end of this year, the military official overseeing the deployments said.

Li Xiuhua, deputy director of peacekeeping affairs at the Ministry of National Defense, released the plan on Tuesday in Jinan, Shandong province, during ceremonies seeing off the last 130 members of China's first Infantry Battalion of 700 peacekeepers on their way to South Sudan.

Most of the peacekeepers were between 20 and 30 years old, and several female soldiers were included in the group.