China is poised to dispatch a detachment of troops on a U.N. peacekeeping mission for the first time in a decade, a sign of the country’s increasing interest in extending its influence overseas. A company of 175 soldiers from an engineering battalion and 43 soldiers from a medical unit will be sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deployment will mark the first U.N. mission with Chinese troop participation since 800 engineering soldiers went to Cambodia from 1992 to 1994. On Monday, the People’s Liberation Army allowed two busloads of foreign journalists rare access to a military base 60 miles north of the capital, greeting them with a marching band, chanting soldiers and a briefing from smiling officers. Full Story