The Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles has requested the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) launch an investigation into allegations Beijing has been headhunting former and serving members.
This comes after the BBC reported that up to 30 former UK military pilots were believed to have been recruited by the Chinese regime to train members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which led to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) issuing an intelligence threat warning about the campaign.
The BBC alleges that the UK government became aware of the recruitment drive targeting military pilots who have experience on fast jets—like the Typhoon, Jaguar, Harrier and Tornado—and helicopters in 2019, and that Beijing had ramped up its efforts recently with current serving personnel being targeted….