No excuse for British ex-military pilots training Chinese forces, expert says
There is no excuse for ex-British military pilots training Chinese military personnel, an aviation expert has said.
Paul Beaver, a historian and former Army Air Corps pilot, told Forces News they would know the threat posed to the UK.
He said: "Any former pilot has, if he's got any sense about him, remembered his threat briefings.
"He's also read the Integrated Review last year and the update to that which has been in the news, that China is a potential adversary.
"This is about military secrets being traded to the Chinese."
Mr Beaver also said there is "an ocean of difference" between the UK's training of Ukrainian forces defending their homeland from Russian invasion and training the personnel of China – a potential adversary.
The BBC reported that up to 30 former pilots are believed to have trained members of China's People's Liberation Army.
They have been warned not to teach the Chinese armed forces how to defeat western warplanes and aircraft and a Government minister said the law will be changed to stop them from doing it.
The pilots are reported to have served across the British military and not just in the Royal Air Force, believed to have been lured in by large paychecks from China.
The Ministry of Defence issued an intelligence alert warning pilots against taking part.
Former Royal Navy warfare officer and aviator Dr Chris Parry took to Twitter to call the pilots "potential traitors" who need to be "named, shamed and shunned".
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