Baseless posts about Taiwanese army recruit from Africa spread online

Published on July 30, 2025 at 04:54
3 min read
By Charlotte KWAN, AFP Hong Kong

Taiwan has made efforts to boost recruitment for its military in the face of intensifying pressure from China, but a picture circulating online does not show that the self-ruled island had recruited an African man to join its armed forces. The military academy where the man was enrolled as an exchange student told AFP he has since returned to his home country.

The Douyin post published on July 5, 2025 shares an image taken from a report by broadcaster TVBS showing a black man in a Taiwanese military uniform.

"Due to recruitment difficulties in the Taiwan province, this black man was able to join the Taiwanese army," text on the image reads in simplified Chinese.

The post's caption largely repeats the false claim and has been shared more than 7,500 times.

Screenshot of the false post taken on July 24, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

As pressure from China increases, Taiwanese politicians and security experts have been talking about bringing in foreign fighters to help fill troops shortage, according to The Telegraph and Radio Free Asia (archived here and here). The proposal, however, is still in its early stages. Taiwan's Defence Minister Wellington Koo previously said in 2024 they have not considered this option (archived link).

Taiwan lives under constant fear of a Chinese invasion, as Beijing claims the island as part of its territory to be reunited one day, by force if necessary.

Taiwan approved two separate pay increases for voluntary military service members in March and June in a bid to address a manpower shortage and retain soldiers in the face of Chinese military pressure (archived link).

Under former president Tsai Ing-wen, the self-ruled island also extended the mandatory military service for men to one year up from four months and allowed women into reservist training (archived link).

The false claim also surfaced elsewhere on Weibo, X and TikTok.

Keyword searches on Google found the screenshot was taken from a video report by Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS titled "African man in army uniform! Man from African ally came to Taiwan and joined military academy, graduated as second lieutenant" (archived link).

It said the man is a military exchange student from Eswatini -- the only African nation that maintains formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan (archived link).

The scene in the false post can be seen at the 10-second mark in the TVBS report.

Screenshot comparison of the false Douyin post (left) and original clip from TVBS news (right)

The R.O.C. Military Academy told AFP that the student -- Lindikhaya Xavier Manyisa -- has since returned home and did not join Taiwan's army.

Local media also reported in previous years that the academy accepted other students from Eswatini under an exchange programme (archived here and here).

Taiwan Factcheck Center has also debunked the false claim (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked misinformation about the Taiwan military here.

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