The Chinese Communist Party’s military expansion in the Indo-Pacific region is becoming a hot topic, and Xi Jinping has continued to emphasize preparation for war. But what are the reasons for China’s refusal to serve in the military in recent years? And what does it reflect?
On April 4, the Chinese Communist Party media reported another case of local authorities dealing with recruits who refused to perform military service. The case came from Shushan District, Hefei City, Anhui Province, where the district conscription office issued a “Decision on the Treatment of Liu Shuai, a recruit who refused to serve in the military in 2020” on March 16 this year, showing that Liu Shuai, a native of Linzhang County, Handan City, Hebei Province, was admitted to Anhui Agricultural University in 2019 and enlisted in the army in September 2020, and was assigned to serve in a department of Xinjiang Military Region. On November 6, 2020, Liu Shuai was removed from the CCP military.
The authorities punished the young man with a fine of 46,866 yuan, a three-year ban on preferential credit and interest rate policies from the financial sector, a ban on hiring him as a civil servant or staff member with reference to the civil service law, a staff member of an institution or a staff member of a state-owned enterprise, a two-year ban on reinstatement procedures at Anhui Agricultural University, and a media report on him as a ” The media will inform him as a “negative typical”, note “refusal to serve in the military” in his personal household registration permanently, and forbid him to go abroad for 2 years, and forbid him to go through business procedures for 3 years.
This series of penalties can be described as unusually severe, which is equivalent to completely canceling the person’s future in China, and the only way out may be to hope to leave the country after two years.
Half a month after the punishments, the Chinese Communist Party media reported the story in a high-profile manner, apparently in an attempt to deter more people from refusing or resisting military service. But the frequency of this kind of thing means that the deterrent is limited.
For example, in December 2020, officials in Jingtai County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, reported that Zhang Wenquan was punished for refusing to perform military service in Yong’an Village, Sitan Township, the county. In the same month, authorities in Wuming District, Nanning, Guangxi Province, reported that Wu Zhengbang, a student at Guangxi Academy of Performing Arts, was removed from the Chinese Communist Army for refusing to perform military service, and that the decision to punish him was announced in the media and government departments at all levels in a high-profile manner and required a 15-day public display.
In September 2020, the government of Xinzhou District, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, announced on its website that Xu Wenkui, a draft-age youth from Dongcheng Street, Xinzhou District, was fined 20,000 RMB for refusing to perform military service, not being hired as a civil servant for two years, not being able to go through the procedure of leaving the country, and not being able to go through the procedure of doing business for three years, among other eight heavy penalties.
And according to the official notification, 16 people were punished for refusing to serve in the military in Hebei Province alone in 2019.
These official cases are mainly for new recruits, but there are many more cases that are not included, such as those who refuse to serve in the military from the beginning and do not register or enlist in the draft, which are also considered as “evading military service”.
According to the Communist Party’s military service law, male citizens who have reached the age of 18 by December 31 of that year “shall fulfill their obligation to register for military service in accordance with the law,” and then “those who intend to join the army may directly apply for online conscription. But in reality, as long as they are of age, they cannot decide on their own whether or not to register and apply for further conscription, regardless of whether or not they take the initiative to register, because these are the “accounts” of the local conscription office, which will also take the initiative to do the work, and anyone who refuses to register or apply for conscription will be treated the same as new recruits who have already been conscripted. “Refusal to perform military service” is also considered a serious political problem and is punished. Only in recent years, this situation has been highlighted as a severe punishment, including a permanent note on the household register that says “never serve in the military”, which is a major change since Xi Jinping took over the military.
It is not hard to imagine that before the draft dodgers were dealt with, the authorities must have done a lot of so-called ideological work and repeatedly informed them of the serious consequences of refusing to perform military service. The frequent incidents of refusal to perform military service show that the authorities’ deterrence does not really work, and people would rather pay a high price in life than perform military service. What are the reasons behind this?
I have worked in the grassroots government on the mainland and assisted in the conscription process, and I understand some of the situation, but of course, there is a new twist now.
In my opinion, the first reason why young Chinese people refuse to serve in the military is of course personal. Under the one-child policy of the Chinese Communist Party for many years, many young people are spoiled and do not want to suffer, and some of them cannot stand it in the recruit training.
Secondly, it may be a family reason, the family itself, the family is not necessarily very willing to let young people to go to the military, once I have the intention to withdraw, the family also support the home to refuse to serve in the military, such families often have some financial resources, or the family has industry, their personal did not want to join the military also have career considerations.
The third reason is ideological resistance to the Communist Party. For example, the elders in the family know more about the history of the lies of the Communist Party, and they understand that the Communist Party’s military is not to protect the people, but to protect the interests of the Communist Party; or the family has suffered persecution by the Communist Party and resents the Communist Party, mostly during the Cultural Revolution (if it is due to the June 4 Incident, the practice of Falun Gong or other religious beliefs, or the forced demolition of rights, it may not pass the political scrutiny of the authorities itself), and thus do not want children in the family to join the Chinese Communist army.
The fourth reason is a new situation, that is, because the CCP authorities have been blowing the whistle on war preparation in recent years, some young people who would have liked to be in the military have been discouraged from doing so, either by themselves or by their families.
The Chinese people under the Chinese Communist Party are now very realistic and have learned the hard way that moral standards have become lower. Over the past 30 years, the authorities have lured people into joining the military with financial benefits, such as family benefits, enlistment rewards, and condolence payments, and so on. Many people from rural or lower-middle class families will join the military for this reason, but if the family is not short of money, once they know they may face going to war, they will definitely escape as the top.
And even if people from rural or lower-middle class families join the army because they are in it for the benefit, once they actually go to war, they will all change their ways to become deserters. This is quite similar to how many people who joined the CCP not because they believed in Marx and Lenin, but for immediate benefits, would quickly flee once the situation changed.
This fourth reason corresponds to the mentality of the Chinese people, in contrast to the polls in Taiwan that show that the percentage of people willing to fight to defend Taiwan continues to rise (up to 80% last year).
The frequent incidents of Chinese young people refusing to serve in the military, after much official publicity, can also affect those still in the service and bring a subtle shock to military morale.
Of course, there are also social injustices that affect the military, such as the incident a few years ago in Yunnan where an active duty soldier was forcibly detained in handcuffs by the local judicial and public security systems for filming the demolition of his loved one’s home while he was home visiting his family. In Jilin, a sergeant squad leader, Yang Fan, had his home demolished and took three recruits with him to leave with guns, only to be intercepted and killed by Liaoning’s special police. In addition, veterans have continued to defend their rights in recent years, casting a shadow on the minds of active duty soldiers.
In addition, the Chinese military has a history of corruption, which Xi Jinping has not been able to effectively eliminate since he took power. With all these complicated factors, can the CCP’s military really be “ready for war, ready to fight” as Xi Jinping demanded?
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