The defense departments of both the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia have been on alert while investigating reports of their former military personnel training Chinese People’s Liberation Army personnel.
The UK has warned its ex-military pilots and is ready to take legal action to stop its personnel from working in China. According to reports, 30 ex-British fighter pilots are training in China. On the other hand, Australia’s Defense Minister Richard Marles informed that the military is investigating the issue.
Reportedly, China has mesmerized former British military pilots for an exchange of huge amounts of money to train their PLA personnel. Intelligence officials have geared up for a hunt down of pilots.
According to a UK Ministry of Defense spokesperson, while such military training and recruiting defense personnel are not against law, however, governments in the UK and other countries are desisting such acts.
As per reports, the UK officials had known in 2019 regarding ex-military pilots being recruited by China, but they decided to take the matter on a case-by-case basis. Traveling to China during COVID-19 was barred and so the officials have restarted their investigation.
The Ministry of Defense in Britain posted on Twitter warning the pilots about the risk of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act, and a national security bill would pave the way for other methods of prosecution. The pilots are recruited by the South African company, Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA).
In an online advertisement, TFASA stated that it was looking for many fixed-wing and helicopter test pilot instructors to serve at an undisclosed location in “Far East Asia” with an initial contract commitment of four years in an undated advertisement with the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP).
