Originally published July 10, 2023 5:00 pm PDT
“The CCP wanted Chinese youth to believe that being PLA martyrs was glorious,” said co-founder of Republicans Overseas Solomon Yue.
QUICK FACTS:
- Kindergarten-aged children are undergoing combat training in boot camps across China, according to information reviewed by the Daily Caller.
- The children are being taught how to handle weapons using toy knives, grenades, rifles, and shoulder-fired missiles.
- Children are also being taught emergency medical training and notable PLA martyrs.
- The camps are organized by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
- U.S. Air Force consultant Brandon Weichert told the Daily Caller News Foundation that “[t]here’s sort of a ‘get ’em while they’re young’ mentality that has always been part of the communist ethos.”
- “Xi Jinping is trying to inculcate not just a patriotic fervor among the next generation, but I think he’s trying to also create actual next soldiers for the inevitable campaigns that he plans on waging militarily,” Weichert continued.
- Weichert added that in prepping for war, Chinese children are “talking about, ‘let’s go out with bayonets, play in the field and pretend like we’re killing Americans.’ That’s where this is headed.”
- Executive Director of the Global Taiwan Institue Russell Hsiao similarly noted, “While these measures do appear intended to put the Chinese masses on a stronger military footing in the longer term, they are also directed at the CCP’s longstanding efforts to deeply embed itself in civil-military relations and as part of its broader push to shore up the CCP’s legitimacy in the eyes of the Chinese masses through stoking nationalism.”
- The move to militarize children follows a 2022 document describing a “national defense education” project designed for “building and consolidating national defense and a strong people’s army.”
INFORMATION FROM SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS:
- A kindergarten class in Guangdong province participated in a week-long National Defense Education camp, according to a school’s social media account.
- “The youth is strong, the country is strong, the youth progresses, the country progresses, when the immature body wears the mighty military uniform, we become real little soldiers!” a statement reads.
- “After 5 days of training in the training camp, the little soldiers have become more brave, tenacious, and confident, and their behavior is more standardized: standing, sitting, and walking. This is the first lesson in children’s life, and it is also a meaningful growth ceremony,” the statement continues.
- “INHERIT THE RED GENE, CARRY FORWARD PATRIOTIC FEELINGS, LOVE CHINA, LITTLE SOLDIER,” a banner reads.
- “We solemnly swear to love the motherland from now on, to dedicate our hearts to working together to build the dream of a powerful country,” children vowed in a post.
- “Even if I fall to the ground I will continue onward!” the children exclaimed.
- “If the youth are strong, the country will be strong!” children cried out during another boot camp.
BACKGROUND:
- American Faith reported that China is developing weapons that “attack” human brains.
- The military technology known as “NeuroStrike” refers to the “engineered targeting of warfighter and civilian brains using distinct non-kinetic technology” to inhibit brain function.
- Details of the emerging program were discussed in a report entitled “Enumerating, Targeting and Collapsing the Chinese Communist Party’s Neurostrike Program” and said that the research program is a “core component of [China’s] asymmetric warfare strategy against the United States and its Allies in the Indo-Pacific.”
