BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- A Defense Ministry spokesman said on Thursday that China attaches great importance to self-defense in its overseas peacekeeping operations.

A self-defensive security unit was already established when China deployed its peacekeepers in Darfur in 2007, spokesman Geng Yansheng said at a regular news briefing.

A security unit has also been formed for China's peacekeeping engineers in South Sudan, in accordance with requirements of the United Nations, he added.

According to Geng, Chinese peacekeeping troops in Sudan and South Sudan have both recently conducted military exercises to improve their competency in security, self-defense, communication and coping with emergency incidents.

The anti-government Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) kidnapped 52 people from the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in Sudan's western region of Darfur on Monday. The JEM released 49 of them, but detained three Sudanese soldiers accompanying the peacekeepers.