The Department of National Defence is looking into whether any former Canadian military pilots are involved in training the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China after the United Kingdom found some ex-pilots had accepted training roles in the Chinese military.
On Oct. 18, Britain’s Defence Ministry said it issued an intelligence alert to former and current military pilots, warning against Chinese headhunting programs aimed at recruiting pilots to train the PLA.
The BBC reported that up to 30 former British military pilots are currently in China training PLA pilots. The report said the pilots are asked to provide vital and sensitive information such as how Western planes and pilots operate. Some pilots receive annual salaries of roughly 240,000 pounds (CAD$370,000) to conduct the trainings, the BBC reported….