How the West Is Helping Train China's Military
by Robert Williams • April 28, 2023 at 5:00 am
China is reportedly recruiting former air force pilots from the West to understand better how Western military aircraft and pilots operate. Up to 30 former UK military pilots are believed to have traveled to China since 2019 to work as instructors in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
"It's taking Western pilots of great experience to help develop Chinese military air force tactics and capabilities. Money is a strong motivator." — Unnamed Western official, BBC, October 28, 2022.
"It was very specific that it had to be frontline military aviators in current flying practice.... why send military pilots rather than teachers?" — Sky News, October 28, 2022.
Perhaps most incredibly, the US Army, as late as November 2020, conducted the Disaster Management Exchange (online, due to coronavirus) with China's PLA.... Unbelievably, the November 2020 remote exercise took place just one month after President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser, Robert O'Brien, had pronounced China to be the threat of the century....
China is reportedly recruiting former air force pilots from the West to understand better how Western military aircraft and pilots operate. Up to 30 former UK military pilots are believed to have traveled to China since 2019 to work as instructors in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
"They are a very attractive body of people to then pass on that knowledge. It's taking Western pilots of great experience to help develop Chinese military air force tactics and capabilities," an unnamed Western official said. "Money," he added, "is a strong motivator."
Britain's Ministry of Defence stated that while the pilots have not actually breached any current law in the UK by working for the PLA, they are warning other former pilots against taking up work for the Chinese military.
