(TibetanReview.net, Jan05’25) –China has invoked its military service law to mandate Tibetan males in the India-border county of Ruthog (Chinese: Ritu) in Ngari (Ali) prefecture, Tibet, to report for military conscription, reported the Tibetan-language tibettimes.net Jan 4, citing a source with knowledge of the situation there.
Although China’s Military Service Law has created a system of compulsory military service, mandatory service has not been enacted since 1949 due to sufficient volunteer recruitment.
However, now, in the case of Ruthog, China is said to have invoked Article 15 of its Military Service Law, which says “male citizens who have reached the age of 18 before Dec 31 every year shall register for first-time military service in that year in accordance with the arrangement of military service organs.”
Ruthog is the county that borders India’s Union Territory of Ladakh, where intruding Chinese troops clashed with their Indian counterparts in mid-2020, plunging relations between the two countries to a state from which they are still struggling to recover.
The report said the authorities have not only issued a proclamation requiring such male Tibetan youths to report for conscription, but also contacted them as well as their parents individually to ensure compliance.
The proclamation is stated to require male Tibetan youths in this India-border county who would attain 18 years of age on Dec 31, 2024 to register for recruitment by Jun 30, 2025.
The source has also said Chinese authorities have enhanced the level of security alert in the county, adding that a number of new activities were being initiated in its military camps.
The Chinese military was stated to have been repeatedly encouraging the youths in this county to join its border security force each year and there has been no let-up in this drive this year too. Some parents in the county were stated to have received phone calls, promising great financial rewards both for themselves and their children in future for joining the border security force.
Over the past several years, the local county government and the area’s army unit have been acting jointly to make the local Tibetans celebrate events like China’s National Day and the border guards day. Officers of the border guard units were stated to repeatedly lecture the local villagers under a campaign that encourages them to join the border guard military.
A number of new projects are also being carried out in the county with building of new border villages, and these have include a new photovoltaic power station, the report said.