Britain eyes new law to stop Chinese recruitment of ex-military pilots

Oct. 18 (UPI) -- British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said the country "must change" a law to prevent former military officers from training Chinese pilots for battle.

Heappey made the comment after a report emerged that at least 30 former Royal Air Force pilots were recruited by the Chinese military with "very generous" employment packages. Current laws do not explicitly prevent retired officers from providing training.

"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 said, according to The Guardian. "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."

Britain first became aware of former military pilots being recruited to train Chinese pilots in 2019, the BBC reported.

The pilots were dealt with on a case-by-case basis and attempts at recruitment slowed down following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic but have since begun to "ramp up significantly" a Western official said.

Officers are concerned that China poses a threat to Britain and allies like the United States. Britain issued an intelligence alert on Monday to warn former military pilots against working for the Chinese military.

"China is a competitor that is threatening the U.K. 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 [Ministry of Defense]."

So far, there is no evidence that any British pilots have broken the Official Secrets Act for divulging military secrets. Officials said the warning was to remind personnel of their obligations to protect sensitive military information.

"We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former U.K. armed forces pilots to train People's Liberation Army personnel in the People's Republic of China," a British Defense Ministry spokesperson said, according to BBC News.