Retired British military pilots being recruited by China to train PLA soldiers

Two days after the UK Defense Ministry raised an alarm about retired British military pilots being recruited by China to train PLA soldiers. Taiwan has now issued a clarification saying its retired military pilots have not helped with the training of PLA soldiers in any way. Taipei says the movement of all its military pilots is controlled under local laws. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry has emphasized how it has full knowledge of the whereabouts of all its pilots once they retire from the military, including those who've joined Chinese commercial carriers. Lieutenant General Janu Sen, however, has found a note of caution, saying it's a free market and the government cannot control what the veterans do, even if that means them working for mainland Chinese airlines. These comments by the Taiwanese government come after media reports claiming that the People's Liberation Army of China had offered an exorbitant sum of money to retired British Air Force pilots to share their expertise with the Chinese armed forces. According to these reports, the PLA expects this kind of training to help Chinese forces gain an understanding of how Western warplanes and pilots operate. And experts say such information could be critical in the event of a conflict.

Well, so how big a concern should this really be for Taiwan at a time when reports suggest that the People's Liberation Army of China could be busy recruiting retired British military pilots to share their expertise with the PLA? All right. For more on that story, we are now joined by Vincent Chau Rama. He is the former political director at Taiwan's Representative office in Washington, DC. Given the tensions that we are witnessing in the Taiwanese trade and the almost daily threats that are issued by China to Taiwan. Especially all this talk about China being willing to even use force if necessary. How big and real do you think this danger really is of British military pilots or Taiwanese military pilots who retired from service actually sharing their expertise with the PLA? 

 We've seen in the past few years, a number of generals have actually gone over to China, to Beijing to participate in CCP, Chinese Communist Party activities. So it is quite a big issue for Taiwan, fact that our retired military officers have this level of exchange with the PRC. But I think we have to look at this holistically and it is an issue that this government in Taiwan is trying to tackle head-on. So we've seen that the time administration in Taiwan has taken the threat of a Chinese invasion very, very seriously. So, number one, we've increased the defense budget quite significantly. And I expect when the defense budget for next year is released in a few weeks' time here in Taiwan, we will see the largest defense budget ever here in Taiwan. So we can expect that in a few weeks' time. Number two, we are increasing cooperation with the US. With Europe, Australia, Japan, and other democracies around the world. India is, of course, no exception. So what we hope to do in Taiwan is to show the Chinese that we stand together with democracies all around the world and that democracies around the world are ready to step in to ensure that we continue to see peace and security and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

All right. You know, I understand the point that you're making about how Western powers have repeatedly expressed solidarity with Taiwan. In fact, the American president, Joe Biden, has gone so far as to say that if Taiwan were to be attacked by China, the US. Would intervene militarily. And you're talking about how Taiwan is constantly increasing its defense expenditure. However, the question here really is, is it even feasible for Taiwan to keep track of every military veteran? As has been pointed out by some experts, it's a free market. And it is a known fact, as you pointed out, that many of these veterans are already working with Chinese commercial carriers. 

So we are trying to disincentivize our retired and military personnel from going over to the CCP, over to China. And so in recent years, we've actually enacted new legislation. So we have new legislation that is currently enforced right now that actually takes away military pensions if these retired senior officers are found to be working with the Chinese, with the CCP, with the PLA. So military pensions are actually a big disincentive for military officers in terms of working with China. So that's the first part. Number two, we are increasing the penalties in terms of spying, in terms of them sharing classified intelligence, and we're increasing the legal venues in which the government can penalize such officers from engaging in this sort of discourse with the PRC. And so, all in all, I think there are very strong, I think, legal actions that we are trying to put in place to ensure that this sort of military officer sharing or engaging with the PRC does not take place in the future.