What's Behind UK Fuss Over Alleged Training of PLA by RAF Veterans?

The UK government intends to change a law to prevent former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots from training the Chinese military over national security concerns. Earlier, British officials claimed that China had recruited 30 former RAF pilots for an annual salary of £240,000 ($271,282) to train People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircrews.

"It is very absurd for the People’s Liberation Army to hire British pilots or aviators to support their training since all the military hardware and systems are totally incompatible by any circumstance. It is most likely in essence a plausible speculation," said Dr. Chang Ching, military expert on the People's Liberation Army and regional security and research fellow of the Taiwan-based Society for Strategic Studies.

Dr. Chang has also drawn attention to the fact that the hefty salary for trainers cited by the media report appears unreasonably high. He argued that "there is no such market price for hiring foreign pilots, aviators or other military specialists to support military training."

"Particularly, there is no military system or platform now serving in the PRC military forces familiar to those of former British military personnel," said the scholar. "Even for a country that actually owned certain military systems and platforms also serving in the British armed forces and these military hardware are familiar for these former British military experts, it is very hard to believe that any sensible government would pay such a high salary to hire retired British military. Mercenaries who risk their life to fight a war would not get such a high salary. It really sounds like an unrealistic pay scale in the global military professionals' labor market."

At the same time, the scholar remarked that it is very common to hire foreign military specialists to train personnel. For instance, such training is often included as a subcontract in a foreign military procurement project. Appropriate training programs are the essential elements of the Integrated Logistics Support, which is known as the ILS, according to Dr. Chang. He pointed out, however, that "the instructors are only one of the factors in the overall armament transfer training program." "Training materials, facilities, simulator, training support equipment and flying test range are the necessities as well," the scholar noted.

According to Dr. Chang, if these retired British military professionals did serve training programs for Beijing, London's major concern would be that they play the role of the “blue forces” that possibly improve the People’s Liberation Army's fighting skills and tactics as they engage with Western adversaries in the future.

"These former British personnel may attend as training counterparts or the opposition forces during military exercises," the scholar presumed. "The British government will certainly worry about these former military professionals unintentionally leaking confidential information to Beijing."

Does the UK Plan to Engage in Military Ops Against China?

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin denied any knowledge of employment of British pilots to train the country’s military personnel, saying at a regular presser: "I am not aware of the circumstances you mentioned."

Still, the UK Ministry of Defense's announcement that London is taking decisive steps to stop China's alleged recruitment of RAF pilots raises questions about Britain's intentions with regard to the People's Republic, according to Dr. Chang.

"If London intends to take measures that include military operations against Beijing in the future, the British government will of course feel uneasy to allow their retired military professionals to teach the Chinese military how to counter British military maneuvers and operational efforts," the scholar underscored, adding that in that case "leaking operational concepts or engagement logic would be damaging to the national interests of Great Britain and collective interests of all Western alliance states."

Truss Throwing National Economy & Security Into Jeopardy

Meanwhile, clouds are gathering on the horizon of Sino-British relations under Prime Minister Liz Truss. On October 11, The Guardian reported that the Liz Truss government is going to formally designate China a national "threat" to Britain in its upcoming strategic defense review. Under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, China was named just a "systemic competitor."

The Global Times, a Chinese daily, wrote that officially designating China a "threat" will be a "diplomatic failure" for Truss. GT contributor James Smith called No 10's potential move nothing short of a "catastrophe." "How exactly, of course, China represents a 'threat' to the United Kingdom is not made clear. Either why or how," Smith noted. For his part, Seoul-based reporter Andrew Salmon suggested in his op-ed for Asia Times that diplomacy and security have fallen prey to Truss' political agenda along with the UK national economy.

Before further escalating UK-China tensions, the United Kingdom needs to verify whether the reports about China's recruitment of RAF pilots are true or false in the first place, noted Dr. Chang.

"Second, if these retired British military personnel do have the market value hired by the People’s Liberation Army, certain legal constraints should be established. Otherwise, there is no proper reason to hinder any of its own citizens to be hired by foreign governments in a nation that claims to have the rule of law," the scholar continued.

"Last but not the least, London should identify what exactly the true threat is, leaking the intelligence and information or alternatively, providing not so proper training programs with low efficacy but earning big fortunes by their veterans," Dr. Chang concluded.