Beijing Recruiting Western Pilots to Train its Air Force Personnel

Expert: The West is helping the CCP to become a threat

Pilots in conversation. The tail of an American Airlines aircraft is seen in the background in Dallas, Texas on Feb. 14, 2013. Mike Stone/file/Reuters

Beijing is recruiting large numbers of British, French, Australian, and Canadian pilots to train its air force. Carl Schuster, former director of operations at U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, warned that the West is helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) become a threat.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) says it believes that up to 30 former British military pilots are providing training in China, and says it has been in contact with many others, including British personnel currently serving. Each pilots is paid £237,911 (about $272,842).

The MoD said that the Chinese regime uses third parties to find British and other Western pilots to train Chinese pilots and to support state-owned defense industry companies and research institutes.

In addition, the Canadian Department of National Defence said it is investigating reports that the Chinese government may be paying high salaries to recruit Canadian jet fighter pilots to train the CCP’s air force.

According to Le Figaro, a French newspaper, Beijing is offering to lure retired French pilots to train the CCP military on how to land and take off aircraft from aircraft carriers and learn NATO air force strategy. Several fighter pilots have served in China over the past few years, including a retired pilot from the Strategic Air Force.

Reason Behind Chinese Aircraft Carrier’s Rapid Progress

Carl Schuster said that in the United States, people are not allowed to work for foreign governments without government permission.

“I don’t know about France and Britain, but I think that it is at best unwise,” Schuster told The Epoch Times. “It certainly explains china’s rapid progress once they built a carrier.”

The CCP’s military is growing rapidly, with a fleet of aircraft carriers and ambitions to challenge the U.S. Navy’s position in the Pacific. According to the Chinese military magazine “Military Technology,” the PLA will need to train 100 to 150 new naval pilots over the next 10 years to match the new fleet, and it still faces many problems.

General view of the launching ceremony of China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, named after Fujian Province, at Jiangnan Shipyard, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, on June 17, 2022 in Shanghai, China. Li Tang/VCG via Getty Images

The reason the CCP has extended its recruitment hand to France is that French pilots have mastered the fine art of catapult takeoff and landing on aircraft carriers. China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is equipped with electromagnetic takeoff catapults, a technology used only by the United States and soon to be adopted by France. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, has been using vertical takeoff Falcon attack aircraft since the 1980s.

Landing and taking off from an aircraft carrier is very challenging, and doing it quickly is even more challenging, according to Schuster. Therefore, recruiting Western pilots could really help the CCP accelerate their carrier-based aviation training program.

In 2012, the official Chinese media reported that the Chinese military had successfully landed a fighter jet on board the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier. Therefore, Shuster speculates that the CCP would have started recruiting foreign pilots to be trainers in 2010.

‘Handing a Stick to Your Enemy Before Getting Into a Fight’

However, Shuster said he was more concerned about Western pilots training the CCP military in air-to-air combat tactics than simply training them in the skills of carrier aircraft take off and landing.

“I think that it is unwise for these pilots to do that… It’s unwise for their countries to allow them to do that,”he said.“It is somewhat like handing a stick to your enemy before you get into a fight.”

“I can understand the pilots wanting the money. but I cannot see a patriotic pilot doing it.”

Chinese pilots onboard the guided-missile frigate Wuhu (539) stand in formation shortly after docking at the international port in Manila on Jan. 17, 2019. Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images

The retired Navy captain said that the biggest advantage of the CCP recruiting Western pilots is that it can steal the combat experience of French and British pilots. Britain and France were involved in Operation Desert Shield Storm in the 1990 Gulf War.

“When you look at the way they approach a tactic target: how [do] they penetrate air defenses, and what do they do after they come up from the attack? Those are vital tactics that can ensure the pilots’ survival in the natural world,” Shuster said. “So I think that’s why China has recruited them. They’re looking to expand their tactical wisdom of experiences and expand their training program in those texts.”

‘Helped China Become a Threat to the West’

Shuster believes that Western pilots helping to train the CCP will make the regime more dangerous.

“It’s another example of where the West has helped China become a threat to the West. It’s assisting your enemy,” he said.“When they’re worried about China’s potential aggression in the South China Sea or against Taiwan, having your own pilot train the Chinese air force and [teaching them] the tactics that could be used to defeat you or to defeat Taiwan, if it isn’t criminal, it should be.”

The MoD said on the issue that all serving and former military personnel are bound by the Official Secrets Act.

“We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK Armed Forces pilots to train the People’s Liberation Army personnel in the People’s Republic of China,” a MoD spokesperson said in a statement.

Undated photograph of UK Minister for Armed Forces James Heappey. David Mirzoeff/PA

James Heappey, Minister of State for the Armed Forces and Veterans, said the government is currently seeking to change the law to penalize military pilots who pass on their expertise to the Chinese forces.

“We are going to put into law that once people have been given that warning, it will become an offence to go forward and continue with that training,” Heappey told Sky News. “China is a competitor that is threatening the UK interest in many places around the world.”

In Canada, violating the Security of Information Act carries a 14-year prison sentence.

“The Security of Information Act applies to both current and former members, and non-compliance with the Act could result in serious consequences,”said Canada’s Department of National Defence spokesperson Daniel Le Bouthillier.

France has not commented on the matter.

Schuster said that if British and French laws allow their pilots to train the Chinese military, they should change their laws to make it illegal.

“The U.S., French, and the British should investigate it to find out how long it has been going. and who has been doing it,” he said.

According to the Daily Mail, the CCP is using a private flight academy in South Africa as a middleman to recruit pilots, as any direct contact between Beijing and fast jet pilots at Royal Air Force in the UK would be intercepted by security authorities. The academy is the Test Flight Academy of South Africa located at Otshoorn Airport in the Western Cape.

Schuster said if a company hires Western pilots to train Chinese pilots, the company is violating U.S. law; if an American pilot trains a Chinese pilot and does not report it, then the American pilot is breaking the law.

“But I’ve not seen any reports that American pilots are doing this,” he said.