Australia Probes Ex-Military Pilots Who Trained PLA As US Allies Struggle To Block China's Recruitment Drive

Amid deteriorating relations between Beijing and the West and growing concerns that China has recruited Western pilots to train People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces, Australian security agencies are now investigating allegations that highly skilled former Australian defense force personnel have also been similarly approached.

Richard Marles, Australia's deputy prime minister and defense minister, confirmed Wednesday that the country's Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce, spearheaded by the Australian Federal Police and the spy agency Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), is "currently investigating a number of" such cases, The Guardian reported.

While Marles said such cases are under investigation, he declined to confirm whether any individual Australians had actually helped China.

The Australian minister added that the investigation raised concerns justifying a deeper examination of existing regulations to find out "any weaknesses" in policies that apply to former defense personnel, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"It's really important that we have the most robust framework possible that is in place to protect Australia's information and protect our secrets," Marles said Wednesday, as per the outlet.

It was reported in late October that the Australian Federal Police had arrested a former U.S. military pilot and flight instructor who had worked in China. Apart from Australia, similar cases of Beijing's recruitment of Western military pilots have also emerged in the U.K., Canada and France.

On Oct. 21, Le Figaro, a French daily newspaper, published a testimony of a French pilot approached by Beijing to train the Chinese air force. The publication reportedly claimed that China had been in search of French instructors for aircraft carrier landings.

As reported earlier, the U.K. has also been looking to introduce a two-strike rule, which would result in British pilots being given one warning before they were prosecuted. This came after reports that at least 30 former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots have taken advantage of the "very generous" recruitment packages offered by Beijing to provide training for Chinese military pilots.

A private firm called the Test Flying Academy of South Africa hired these 30 former RAF pilots to work in China on salaries of around $270,000 per year, according to The Economist.

Commenting on a report about the 30 ex-RAF pilots approached to train PLA and announcing the launch of Australia's own investigation, Marles said, "I would be deeply shocked and disturbed to hear that there were personnel who were being lured by a paycheck from a foreign state above serving their own country," according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Given the rapid pace of its massive military modernization, China is struggling to find enough trained pilots to operate fighter jets and is therefore seeking to speed up the pilot training program.