Fu Sen, a Chinese peacekeeper who served in the United Nations peacekeeping mission from 2017 to 2018 in South Sudan, died aged 23 on Tuesday, media reported on Friday.

Fu was born in east China's Jiangsu Province and died on Tuesday morning at 7:59 a.m. local time.

Fu was infected with Plasmodium falciparum malaria during his peacekeeping mission and received treatment for the disease for over 400 days in China.

From September 2017 to September 2018, he was a member of the medical unit of the eighth batch of China's peacekeeping forces in South Sudan.

China has dispatched over 40,000 personnel to 24 UN peacekeeping operations since 1990, with 13 Chinese peacekeepers sacrificing their lives in the frontline of operations.

More than 2,500 Chinese peacekeepers are currently on duty in seven mission areas and the UN headquarters. UN has spoken highly of the Chinese peacekeepers as "a key factor" in peacekeeping.

China is the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Last December, China's share of the UN peacekeeping budget was raised from 10.24 percent to 15.22 percent, making it the second largest contributor only after the United States.