China Recruits Young Tibetans In Its Army; Deploys Them Along Indian Border: What We Know
The Tibetan youth are being inducted into the Chinese forces after going through a number of loyalty tests, which include learning the mainland Chinese language and accepting the supremacy of the Chinese communist party over any other beliefs such as following the Dalai Lama and other religious gurus, the sources said.
China has cranked up efforts to recruit young Tibetans in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and local militias as well to act as guides along the border even as it continues to consolidate its military positions and upgrade its airbases facing India, reports TOI.
Indian security establishment officials on Wednesday said latest intelligence reports also show China has even made it ¡°mandatory¡± for each Tibetan family to send at least one young male member for recruitment in the PLA in some areas like the Ngari Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
Bloomberg
"We have been receiving intelligence inputs that the Chinese Army is recruiting Tibetan youth for carrying out special operations along the LAC with India and they have been holding regular exercises to prepare them for such operations," top government sources told India Today.
What is the criteria?
The Tibetan youth are being inducted into the Chinese forces after going through a number of loyalty tests, which include learning the mainland Chinese language and accepting the supremacy of the Chinese communist party over any other beliefs such as following the Dalai Lama and other religious gurus, the sources said.
The stepped-up recruitment of Tibetans and the increase in PLA activity in all sectors stretching from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh along the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control come ahead of the 12th round of corps commander-level talks between India and China.
Reuters
Who is targetted?
The PLA has also recruited over 70 Tibetan students, aged between 17 to 20, from various universities for admission in the military academy in TAR this year. ¡°It is also engaging Tibetan residents of border villages, who have good topographical knowledge of the LAC, to work as guides to accompany its patrolling parties,¡± said an official.
So far, at least two batches of Tibetans have been recruited for the militias; each batch comprises about 100 youths. One batch has completed its training with the PLA and has been deployed at different locations across Chumbi Valley, including Yadong, Cheema, Rinchengang or Renqinggang, PB Thang and Phari.
When did it begin?
The induction began earlier this year after the Chinese saw how Tibetans-in-exile performed while serving in the Special Frontier Force (SFF) of the Indian Army.
The SFF is a unit that was raised in the post-1962 war period with joint training by Indian forces and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US. Ethnic Tibetans or Tibetans-in-exile make up a sizeable portion of this force.
DOD
Military standoff
India and China have been in a military stand-off since April-May last year and are yet to find solutions to de-escalate tensions at the friction points, including the Hot Springs-Gogra heights.
The Indian and Chinese sides have held multiple rounds of talks at both military and diplomatic levels but without much yield except for the limited mutual withdrawal of soldiers by both sides on both northern and southern banks of the Pangong Tso.
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