China is headhunting former British pilots to train its forces, and the UK military is desperate to stop it, officials say

• The UK says its military pilots are being recruited by China to help train Beijing's army.
• A Ministry of Defense official told Insider that the country is trying to stop these efforts.

The UK is trying to stop China's military from recruiting current and former military pilots for training purposes, a defense official said on Tuesday, but it's been having a tough time doing so.

"We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK Armed Forces pilots to train People's Liberation Army personnel in the People's Republic of China," a UK Ministry of Defense spokesperson told Insider.

Citing Western officials, British media reported on Tuesday that as many as 30 jet and helicopter pilots have been recruited by China for annual salaries of up to $270,000. According to the BBC, China wants to use the pilots to deepen its understanding of Western planes and their operators.

Sky News reported that Beijing has been seeking pilots from various branches — like the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and British Army — and also wants to recruit people from other Western countries. To warn military personnel against these efforts, the defense ministry's defense intelligence service even issued a "threat alert" on Tuesday, the report said.

"When former UK military pilots provide training to the People's Liberation Army of China it clearly erodes the UK's defence advantage. We are taking immediate steps to deter and penalise this activity," the UK's defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told Sky News on Tuesday that this issue has been a "concern" within the UK's defense ministry for "a number of years" and that British counterintelligence personnel continue to monitor the issue.

"We have approached the people that are involved and been clear with them that it is our expectation they would not continue to be part of that organization," Heappey said. "And we are going to put into law that once people have been given that warning, it would become an offense to then go forward and continue with that training."

He added that China is a global competitor that's threatening UK interests but also an important trading partner.

"There is no secret in their attempt to gain access to our secrets, and the recruitment of our pilots in order to understand the capabilities of our air force is clearly a concern to us and the intelligence part of the [defense ministry]," Heappey said.

The UK defense ministry spokesperson referred to the situation as a "contemporary" security issue in a statement to Insider and said the country is trying to clamp down on security legislation.

"All serving and former personnel are already subject to the Official Secrets Act, and we are reviewing the use of confidentiality contracts and non-disclosure agreements across Defence, while the new National Security Bill will create additional tools to tackle contemporary security challenges – including this one," they said.

Tensions between China and the West have been high for months as Beijing's military continues to put diplomatic, economic, and military pressure on the self-ruling democratic island of Taiwan, which Chinese leadership has said can be seized by force if peaceful unification appears unobtainable.

In a recent national security strategy document published by the White House, the Biden administration warned against a rapidly modernizing Chinese military, which the Department of Defense has repeatedly called America's "pacing challenge."

"The PRC is the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it," the new strategy says.