Australia is following the UK in investigating whether retired defense pilots have been lured with lucrative contracts to help train the Chinese military in aerial warfare.
Key Points:
- Britain’s Ministry of Defense is investigating whether RAF pilots were recruited to help train China’s military
- Defense Minister Richard Marles has ordered an inquiry into whether Australian pilots were also recruited
- Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says new laws are needed to stop secrets being shared
Britain’s Ministry of Defense has announced it is taking immediate action to “deter and penalize” UK personnel working for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), following revelations that dozens of former PLA pilots RAF are getting paid as instructors in China.
A spokesman for Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the training and recruitment of pilots did not break any current UK law, but officials there and in other countries were trying to discourage the activity.
“It’s a lucrative package offered to people,” said one Western official, who added that “money is a strong motivator.”
Some of the Chinese packages are believed to be as much as 237,911 British pounds ($427,067), and British media reported that a South African flight academy has acted as a proxy headhunter for the PLA.
Here, Defense Minister Richard Marles has ordered his department to investigate whether any Australian military personnel may also have been lured to work for the PLA Air Force.
Richard Marles has been in Tonga for the South Pacific Defense Ministers meeting. (Department of Defense)
In a statement, Marles said he would be “deeply surprised and disturbed” if any former Australian staff were also serving in China.
“When our ADF personnel join the defense force, they do so to serve their country and we are deeply grateful,” he said.
“I would be deeply shocked and disturbed to hear that there were staff who were being lured by a pay check from a foreign state over serving their own country.
“I have asked the department to investigate these claims and come back to my office with clear advice on this matter.”
It calls for new laws to prevent secrets and methodologies from being released to China
Former Defense Minister and now Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also called the reports “alarming” and challenged Labor to introduce new laws to prevent the activity.
“My call today is to Richard Marles, the Defense Minister, to introduce legislation to deal with this issue. If there is a loophole in the legislation now, the Coalition will support a change to tighten it,” Dutton said .
“We cannot allow our secrets and our methodologies to be handed over to another country and in particular to China under President Xi.
“If legislation is required, we will support it. If the government does not care to introduce the legislation, the Coalition will introduce that legislation to parliament.”
Dutton said the new laws should make it a crime for current and former Australian Defense Force personnel to “disseminate” information to countries where they were not authorized to do so.
American admirals paid hundreds of thousands to work on Australian shipbuilding projects
Concerns have been raised in the United States about the number of retired US admirals on lucrative contracts to work on Australian naval shipbuilding programs.
A Washington Post investigation found that six retired US naval officers had been working for the Australian government since 2015 on contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Last year, the defense department and the former Morrison government refused to reveal details of the American-dominated group advising Australia on submarines when approached by the ABC.
According to the Washington Post, more than 500 retired U.S. military personnel, including dozens of generals and admirals, have taken lucrative jobs since 2015 working for foreign governments, mostly in countries known for human rights abuses and political repression.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder says there are strict regulations for all former employees of the US Department of Defense.
“For example, they remain subject to laws governing the nondisclosure of any nonpublic government information, including classified information or information they may have obtained through their federal employment,” he said.
“There are policies, there are laws, there are regulations, they’re well established and it’s something that DOD members, retirees are educated about and you have to follow them.”