British ministers want to change the law to prevent former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots from training the Chinese military, amid reports that at least 30 British personnel are believed to have taken advantage of “very generous” recruitment packages offered by Beijing.
British defense intelligence is to issue a rare “threat alert,” warning that China’s military is trying to recruit serving and former RAF pilots to help train its own air force.
Officials expressed “concern and disapproval” of the schemes because they posed “a threat to UK and Western interests.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Although they are not explicitly banning pilots from providing training, they aim to take steps to “manage the risk.”
In the latest development, British Minister for the Armed Forces and Veterans James Heappey said the government wants to change the law to introduce a two-strike rule that would result in British pilots being given one warning before they are prosecuted.
“We’ve approached the people involved and have been clear of them that it’s our expectation they would not continue to be part of that organization,” Heappey told Sky News.
“We are going to put into law that once people have been given that warning it will become an offense to go forward and continue with that training,” he said.
“China is a competitor that is threatening the UK interest in many places around the world. It is also an important training partner, but there is no secret in their attempt to gain access to our secrets, and their recruitment of our pilots in order to understand the capabilities of our air force is clearly a concern to us and the intelligence part of the MOD [Ministry of Defence],” he added.
There were “serious questions for the RAF,” Conservative lawmaker Tobias Ellwood, a former soldier, wrote on Twitter.
“We should not be surprised by China’s audacity in luring UK pilots to learn about our tactics. But we should be surprised there’s nothing akin to the Official Secrets Act preventing this — and the absence of patriotism of those involved,” he added.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said it was attempting to stop the recruitment of former and serving pilots.
“We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK armed forces pilots to train People’s Liberation Army personnel in the People’s Republic of China,” a ministry spokesman said.
“All serving and former personnel are already subject to the Official Secrets Act, and we are reviewing the use of confidentiality contracts and non-disclosure agreements across defense, while the new national security bill will create additional tools to tackle contemporary security challenges — including this one,” the spokesman said.
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