UK to change law to deter pilots from training Chinese

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 19

The UK is planning to change its laws after it emerged that 30 former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots have been lured by China to train its pilots on western tactics. Ironically, the UK had played a leading role in the EU’s ban on defence exports to China after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989.

A spokesperson from the UK’s Ministry of Defence said the training and the recruitment of pilots didn't breach any current UK law but officials in the UK and other countries were trying to deter the activity.

The package being offered by China is lucrative and is said to be of $3 lakh (about Rs 2.5 crore) per rotation. Most of the 30 pilots are said to be fighter pilots, while some are helicopter pilots.

The recruitment has been going on for years using third-party head-hunters such as a company based in South Africa. The hirings increased in 2019, when several countries were going into a lockdown due to the Covid pandemic. The fighter pilots flew the Typhoon, Tornado fighter jets, the Harrier jump jets and the heli-pilots flew Wildcat and Merlin.

UK Minister James Heappey said the government wanted to change the law to introduce a two-strike rule which would result in British pilots being given one warning before they were prosecuted.

“We are going to put into law that once people have been given the warning, it will become an offence to go forward and continue with the training,” he said.

UK officials said it was no secret that China was recruiting the pilots in order to understand the capabilities of the RAF.

Lucrative offer

The Chinese government is offering a lucrative package, said to be around $3 lakh (about Rs 2.5 crore) per rotation.

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