Despite efforts to clearly distinguish the protection of civilians (POC) agenda in United Nations peacekeeping from the military action associated with the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP), in recent years these lines have been blurred in situations where UN peacekeeping missions have been mandated to protect civilians in volatile conflict situations where armed groups deliberately attack local populations. This trend has raised a series of political and operational challenges for China’s UN peacekeeping policy. Therefore, the goals of RtoP should be integrated into UN peacekeeping, but the aim should be to enhance peacekeeping atrocity prevention, which can reduce the need for more robust reaction measures. To this end, recommendations are offered for building UN peacekeeping RtoP prevention capacity which could align with and support China’s UN peacekeeping policy and interests.