At the invitation of the Mongolian defense ministry, the Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will send troops to Mongolia in mid-June to join the Khaan Quest 2023 multinational peacekeeping exercise, a Chinese defense spokesperson said Friday.

Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson with the Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks during a regular press conference.

Khaan Quest is an annual military exercise held in Mongolia for a week in the summer. It brings together over a dozen foreign militaries to engage in the sharing of practices for multinational peacekeeping operations. In the exercise, personnel gain United Nations peacekeeper training as well as certification for support of peacekeeping operations. 

Since its establishment in 2003, it has been held in the Five Hills Training Area. It only became an international exercise in 2006, originally being a joint exercise between the Mongolian Armed Forces and the United States Indo-Pacific Command.