Dharamshala, 6th August: In Nyingchi, China’s “Military Summer Camp” titled Snow Eagle is providing military-style training to children aged 8 to 16. In the future, these youngsters may be drafted into the People’s Liberation Army. The kids are being trained in the same way that regular troops are. According to TheRepublic. China is wary about antagonizing Tibetans with regular PLA units, fearing that this may exacerbate the independence fight.
PLA recognized the necessity for Tibetan soldiers.
Following last year’s military tensions with India, the Chinese military understood that its soldiers couldn’t stand up to Ladakhi or Tibetan soldiers joining the Indian Army. Soldiers from far-flung parts of China are finding it difficult to live and work in Ladakh and Tibet’s highlands. Many recruitment rallies have been held by the Chinese army near the LAC in Tibet, India. The Indian Army’s Special Frontier Force, made up of Tibetan youngsters, was among the soldiers who snatched major peaks from Chinese soldiers in September last year.
The Chinese army has had to rethink its mind due to the ongoing border dispute with India since May 2020, the brutal clash in Galwan, and the Indian Army’s takeover of the Kailash range in eastern Ladakh in the first week of September. After 70 years of occupation, the Chinese are now not only recruiting Tibetans for their army but also capturing young children to train as PLA soldiers. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had stationed the first batch of troops of the newly established Tibetan force, the Special Tibetan Army Unit (STAU), in the strategically critical Chumbi Valley between Sikkim and Bhutan, before the start of these children’s training camps.
Recruits are blessed by Tibetan monks.
After completing their training, Tibetans recruited in the Special Tibetan Army Force (STAU) (a new PLA unit made up entirely of personnel of Tibetan ethnicity) are taken to Tibetan Monks for blessings. Taking Tibetan recruits to Tibetan Monks for blessings was not a common practice in the past. This is most certainly a new PLA ploy to get religious mileage from STAU’s freshly enlisted Tibetans.
PLA raises the Mimang Cheton Militia.
As per source*, In Yatung Country in TAR, the PLA has established a new set of Militias in the Chumbi valley. The stated Militia is known as ‘Mimang Cheton’ (MC), which in Tibetan probably means “for the People.”
The MC is made up of Tibetan youngsters who have received training from the PLA. It has been revealed that two batches of MC, each with roughly 100 youngsters, have completed their training and are currently stationed in Yutung, Cheema, Rinchengang, PB Thang, and Phari in the Chumbi valley.
The second class of MC is now being trained at their Phari training center. The MC is raised with the intention of serving mostly in the local surrounding areas, where they may use their expertise of the terrain, language, population, and weather conditions to their advantage. MC personnel currently do not have a uniform or a rank.
Image Credit: republicworld
source*=TheRepublic
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