The UK government said on Tuesday that it is taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former British military pilots to train the People's Liberation Army personnel in China.
According to reports, around 30 former UK military pilots are thought to have gone to train members of China's Army and an intelligence alert is being issued to warn Royal Air Force (RAF) and other Armed Forces personnel against such recruitment drives.
While the recruitment does not breach current UK laws, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the new National Security Bill would create additional tools to tackle such “security challenges”.
“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,” an MoD spokesperson 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 Defence, while the new National Security Bill will create additional tools to tackle contemporary security challenges – including
this one,” the spokesperson said.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told 'Sky News' that the recruitment of UK pilots to train Chinese counterparts had been a concern within the MoD "for a number of years".