https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...e-prosecution/
Ex-RAF officers face prosecution if they train Chinese pilots
RAF veterans training the Chinese military will face prosecution for sharing tactics with a foreign power,
the Ministry of Defence (MoD)has said.
Former service personnel who train the militaries of UK competitors will be “pursued and brought to justice”,
Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, said.
Last October, the MoD issued a rare security alert after it emerged that a number of former RAF, Royal Navy and Army pilots had been training the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
The pilots were contracted through a South African company after being offered salaries of around £250,000. It was reported that about 30 had moved to China to provide the training.
The revelation prompted fears that former British pilots were
helping the Chinese to understand Western tactics, potentially equipping the People’s Liberation Army with knowledge about shooting down the planes of Britain and its allies.
The MoD has now said former Armed Forces personnel who train foreign militaries can expect to be prosecuted under new offences within the
National Security Act, which became law in July.
Specifically, the act includes an offence of “obtaining or disclosing protected information” and defines “information” as including tactics, techniques and procedures.
The MoD said if pilots were suspected of sharing sensitive information with foreign powers it would pass the details to the police to investigate.
Mr Shapps said: “Anyone found to be acting against the UK’s interests by training our competitors’ militaries can now expect to be pursued and brought to justice.
“The Government has acted decisively following the identification of this threat, and has made rapid changes to legislation to help shut it down.”
The MoD said it believed that the adverse publicity from its security alert was effective in persuading the pilots to reconsider their work and to discourage other former troops from taking part.….