China's exploitative recruitment of peaceful Tibetan youth for military service

Chinese army held a welcome ceremony for new soldiers on October 22, 2024 in Chushur County, in the Lhasa City, Tibet. (Photo: file)

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Dharamshala – Chinese authorities in Central Tibet are coercively recruiting Tibetan soldiers, despite declining numbers and growing resistance. In recent days, a welcoming ceremony was held in Chushur County, Lhasa City, for recruits joining the Autumn Army.

According to sources, the number of Tibetans enlisting in the Chinese army continues to decline each year, despite China's increasing efforts to boost recruitment. In September 2024 alone, Chinese authorities recruited several new soldiers across multiple counties in Central Tibet – including Gyantse, Toelung Dechen, and Chushur – as well as many other Tibetan areas in Yunnan (eastern Tibet) and Ngaba (northeastern Tibet), further undermining their cultural identity and fundamental rights.

The Chinese army held a welcome ceremony for new soldiers on October 22, 2024 in Chushur County, in the Lhasa City, Tibet, and around ten recruits were present. They bid farewell to their parents with tears of sadness. They have to undergo intensive training in the high altitudes of Tibet in the coming months.

Chushur County Chinese authorities also conducted Chinese Communist Party's disciplinary training on October 16, 2024. During the training, the county's party members and officials were given the "Chinese Communist Party's Disciplinary Procedure" and the "Summary of Xi Jinping's Speech on Comprehensively Strengthening the Party's Discipline". They showed 108 warning films to members. Through this training, the Chinese authorities warn Tibetan officials not to do anything against the Chinese government, and they must suffer the consequences.

The Chinese authorities, police and staff are doing their hardest to brainwash Tibetans through various workshops aimed at forcibly inculcating the thoughts of Chinese leaders, especially Xi Jinping, the Chinese Constitution, laws and rules, loyalty to the Chinese government, and recruiting new Tibetan soldiers in the name of ‘serving the motherland (China)’.

On the other hand, the Chinese communist Party (CCP) represses Tibetans who exercise their fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of belief, arrests and imprisons Tibetan language defenders, Tibetan environmentalists, and forces around one million Tibetan children into Chinese colonial boarding schools.

China organises various activities to bring the hearts of Tibetan children to the CCP, and stepped up the propagation of Chinese President Xi's thoughts in Tibetan schools in this year in the Central Tibet. Chinese authorities also, under various allegations, have shutdown Tibetan schools, including the famous Gangjong Sherig Norbu School in Tibet. Chinese authorities' crackdown on Tibetan language advocates. Chinese authorities banned Tibetan language in Chinese app (Douying).