UK govt warns military pilots against training Chinese army

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s defense ministry has issued an intelligence alert warning former and current military pilots against Chinese headhunting programs aimed at recruiting them to train the People’s Liberation Army. Armed forces minister James Heappey said authorities will make it a legal offense for pilots to continue with such training activities. Sky News and the BBC reported Tuesday that about 30 British former military pilots are currently in China training PLA pilots. The reports said the pilots are paid annual salaries of some 240,000 pounds ($272,000) to conduct the training. Heappey said the Chinese recruitment attempts “in order to understand the capabilities of our air force is clearly a concern to us.”