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Bill proposes for all Chinese high schoolers to receive military training
- flappyeagle 2y agoAmerica should as well. Mandatory military service means it’s not just the poor and those without other choices that serve.
- ahazred8ta 2y agoAt one point in the 1920s the US was planning to put everybody through a short boot camp at age 18 and then release them to be Reservists.
- methou 2y agoSo they finally started to legalize what’s in practice since the 90s. These were norms for middle schools, high schools, and universities years after what happened in the Tiananmen Square.
- _lvbh 2y agoNot sure why this comment is all the way down here. I lived in China for ~3 years and they had military training bi-weekly in the school next to where I lived. Watching their marches and coordination scared me. Looked robotic and unnatural.
- bitsinthesky 2y agoI’m sure this has no meaning given other similar changes taking place in China, and does not need to be viewed in a wider context of militarization, because it will have no impact on the unfolding of our collective futures.
- more_corn 2y agoIt’s ok to say it out loud. China is preparing for war.
- derelicta 2y agoSad to say but I understand them. They don't want to end up like the young Yugoslavian Republic, weak and shattered for ever because of US "interventionism"
- fred_is_fred 2y agoI am curious how this will play out. How does starting a war with your largest economic market help you in the long run? If the US and Europe stop buying from China it will end their economy. Do they have enough customers in Russia, India, unaligned countries?
- tomcam 2y ago[flagged]
- candiddevmike 2y ago> They will not try to attack Taiwan after the way the world reacted to the invasion of Ukraine Why do you think that? The world's reaction to the invasion of Ukraine was mostly the political version of hopes and prayers.
- Aeolun 2y agoCompared to previous reactions I’d say it was fairly intense.
- selfreliance 2y ago[flagged]
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago> little to no history of conquering other countries for centuries. Tibet would like a word. > They will not try to attack Taiwan after the way the world reacted to the invasion of Ukraine. They may attack Taiwan if Ukraine falls. That would reveal the limits of the world's ability or endurance at supporting such countries. (Except for the economic sanctions. China might think twice about those.)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- makeitdouble 2y agoTo note, military training also gives the government more control over the younger generation, albeit at a cost (which can also be beneficial to the army, in term of budget increase, and count as GDP as money flows around). Aside from actually going to war, there can be many benefits for a government like China.
- mensetmanusman 2y agoThey also recently completed the largest field hospitals and military/civilian bunkers across from the strait.
- tomcam 2y agoIt's an employment program. Unemployment is massive and reported. In the less populated provinces it's devastating. They are trying desperately to avoid a revolution.
- euroderf 2y agoKeep those male 20-somethings occupied.
- evanjrowley 2y agoIf that is the goal, then this course of action may be counterproductive. Military service may increase the sense of entitlement among youths, who will still face unemployment after the training is over.
- delfinom 2y agoI feel like teaching the peasants how to fight only greases the revolution wheels if they aren't actually doing anything to fix the other problems.
- nequo 2y agoEvery male adult had to serve 2 years in the military in the Eastern Bloc. Yet those regimes were pretty stable.
- sneed_chucker 2y agoNot that I believe that conscription causes revolution, but if by "The Eastern Block" you mean the Warsaw Pact countries in Central and Eastern Europe, those regimes lasted about 40 years before being overthrown by revolution... Not exactly what I would call "pretty stable"
- nequo 2y ago40 years is a really long time. For a lot of us, that covers the remainder of our lives.
- Aeolun 2y agoI think it’s mildly disturbing when a country feels the need to mind control it’s citizens enough that they start military education from elementary school. I don’t really know if I’ve heard of that happening anywhere else.
- moi2388 2y agoNazi Germany, USSR, Iran, North Korea, Russia, just to name a couple
- Ekaros 2y agoOr does something like regular pledge to a symbol, be it a flag or religious one... Feels like fascism to me...
- Aeolun 2y agoYeah, I completely agree. That’s kinda disturbing too, but to a much lesser degree. There’s a qualitative difference between “be proud of your country” and “we will now prepare to vanquish the enemies of the motherland”
- DontchaKnowit 2y agoWell, germany infamously did this with the Hitler youth.
- Aeolun 2y agoI deliberately left that reference out. It was the one that came to mind though. It’s always the facist states that do it (fair, that’s kinda the whole fascist schtick, but still)
- DontchaKnowit 2y agoWell, after, 2 seconds of cursory research Looks like the societ Union had youth military education programs. Not surprising at all, seeing as I have never heard a satisfying distinction between fascism and communism. What ends up being described is blanket totalitarianism, every time.
- aragonite 2y ago2-3 weeks of military training for beginning (middle- and) high-schoolers has been tradition for over 100 years since the founding of ROC.[1] PRC simply inherited the same tradition which also exists in Taiwan.[2][3] [1] https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%AE%E9%80%9A%E9%AB%98%E7%AD%89%E5%AD%A6%E6%A0%A1%E5%92%8C%E9%AB%98%E4%B8%AD%E9%98%B6%E6%AE%B5%E5%AD%A6%E6%A0%A1%E5%AD%A6%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84%E5%86%9B%E4%BA%8B%E8%AE%AD%E7%BB%83#%E4%B8%AD%E5%8D%8E%E6%B0%91%E5%9B%BD%E6%97%B6%E6%9C%9F https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%AE%E9%80%9A%E9%AB%98%E7... [2] https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%AE%E9%80%9A%E9%AB%98%E7%AD%89%E5%AD%A6%E6%A0%A1%E5%92%8C%E9%AB%98%E4%B8%AD%E9%98%B6%E6%AE%B5%E5%AD%A6%E6%A0%A1%E5%AD%A6%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84%E5%86%9B%E4%BA%8B%E8%AE%AD%E7%BB%83 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%99%AE%E9%80%9A%E9%AB%98%E7... [3] https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%BB%8D%E8%A8%93_(%E4%B8%AD%E8%8F%AF%E6%B0%91%E5%9C%8B) https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%BB%8D%E8%A8%93_(%E4%B8%AD%...