Pressure is mounting for an investigation by the UK, Australia and New Zealand into the reported recruitment of retired military personnel from those countries by Chinese agents in South Africa. Taking a cue from the UK, which earlier discovered and launched an investigation into such recruits, the Australian military is also investigating reports of its former pilots accepting training roles in China. Britain said it could take legal action on national security grounds to stop its pilots being recruited by foreign Chinese agents and also seek to change the law to make it an offense for a pilot to continue training a foreign military.
The South African company was looking for a number of fixed-wing and helicopter test pilot trainers to work at an undisclosed location in “Far East Asia” on an initial four-year contract through some advertisements. Requirements included certain basic qualifications with a degree from military flight test schools in the United States or Great Britain. Details of the management structure of the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) indicate that the company was responsible for the academy’s “Military Operational Flight Training” for both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. TFASA has hunted down former officers who played key roles in some of the UK’s most sensitive defense projects, including the development of the F-35B Lightning stealth aircraft and the British aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
Using TFASA and other companies as intermediaries, China targeted those with direct access to the latest, closely guarded, defense initiatives. This year China has recruited up to 24 RAF (Royal Air Force) and Royal Navy officers, again with promises of huge salaries and long contracts.
According to media reports, TFASA also maintains a flight school for Chinese airline pilots in South Africa as a joint venture with one of China’s largest state-owned aerospace companies, AVIC. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said he has asked the Defense Department to investigate allegations that former Australian military pilots are being recruited by South Africa’s flight school to work in China. Marles said: “I would be deeply shocked and disturbed to hear that there were staff being lured away by a salary from a foreign state that was not serving their country.”
Western pilots flying to China is nothing new. The exploit of the American Volunteer Group, Flying Tigers, is only one episode to mention. Since news broke that Beijing was recruiting Western pilots, several former pilots have acknowledged that it was well known, discreetly calling it a “brain drain” that has been going on for some time.
China’s espionage breaks all traditional walls. As its need for modern technology for both trade and business increases, we may discover such clandestine activities that we could lay our hands on. Chinese efforts to build a modern navy and air force are part of its design to scale up its military power to be more assertive in geopolitics.
