(TibetanReview.net, Jun11’26) – A Tibet advocacy group in Washington, DC, has on Jun 10 called “deeply disturbing” a Chinese media report that show Tibetan kindergarten children dressed in camouflage uniforms marching under the Chinese flag and participating in simulated combat exercise near the border with India.
Analyzing images released recently by the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) from the southern Tibetan town of Tsona (Chinese: Cuona), the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said the photographs also depict deeply troubling scenes of indoctrination.
The group said the children carry imitation rifles for the activities described by Chinese state media as “immersive and distinctive national defense and ethnic unity-themed educational activities.”
The images were stated to have been published on May 26, 2026 in a report by the United Front on state media. The report, titled as “Nurturing a Love for the Country, Children Guard the Border—Tsona City Kindergarten Holds Educational Activities on National Defense and Ethnic Unity,” is stated to openly highlight these activities as a model initiative.
The report is cited as saying the objective of the training activities is to instil in young children “a sincere love for the Party, the country, and their hometown,” alongside “a commitment to defending the border.”
The program is stated to further aim to “advance early childhood national defense education” and strengthen “ethnic unity education.”
“What makes this even more alarming is that these children are simultaneously being indoctrinated with political ideology that threatens the survival of Tibetan culture,” with state-driven narratives on “ethnic unity.” ICT has said.
“In a border region such as Tsona, this also intersects with China’s assertive posture toward India, raising further concerns about the instrumentalization of children in state narratives.”
Tsona shares border with the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh which China claims is part of Tibet and therefore its territory.
Subjecting Tibetan school children to miliary combat training along with political indoctrination has been an ongoing feature of China’s education policy in occupied Tibet over the past many years.
ICT said the latest images serve as a stark illustration of the defining features of CPC rule in Tibet: indoctrination, militarization, and repression—reaching even the youngest members of society.