Germany asks China not to recruit former pilots

4 June, 2023 A pilot of the People's Liberation Army Air Force on board the J-10AY. Source: Wang Zhao/Agence France-Press/Getty images German authorities ask China not to recruit former Luftwaffe pilots.

TheDefencePost reported this. On Saturday, Germany asked China to stop recruiting former Luftwaffe pilots to train its own air force, fearing they could reveal NATO secret information. At a meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in Singapore, the Head of the German Ministry of Defense expressed concern about China's practice of recruiting former Luftwaffe pilots to train the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

The concerns are justified by the fact that while training Chinese pilots, German instructors might reveal NATO secrets. "I raised the issue of German Air Force pilots who were apparently recruited to train (Chinese) pilots," Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters.

Luftwaffe pilots near the Aermacchi M-346 belonging to the Italian Air Force, 2022. Source: International Flight Training School.

"I made it clear that I expected this practice to stop immediately and told him he probably wouldn't be very happy either if I tried to do the same thing," Pistorius added.

The German weekly magazine Der Spiegel and public TV channel ZDF reported on Friday that several former air force pilots were employed by China in recent years to train its own pilots. According to media reports, their salaries were apparently paid via shell companies in the Seychelles. They reported that the matter is of deep concern to the parliamentary committee overseeing the German secret services.

"We are concerned that military personnel who have been previously working for the German state could be in positions that could lead them to disclose state secrets," the Head of the parliamentary committee shared with ZDF. German officials worry that secrets relating to tactics used by NATO could be uncovered by the Chinese and used for military purposes. The ZDF TV channel reported that the German Ministry of Defense plans to launch an investigation.

Cases of China recruiting former military from NATO countries have already surfaced and were discovered in the USA and Britain.

Daniel Duggan, a former United States Marine Corps pilot, accused of training Chinese pilots.

Source: Handout

In October 2022, Daniel Duggan, a former United States Marine Corps pilot, was arrested at the request of the United States government on charges of money laundering, arms trafficking, and training Chinese Air Force pilots.

Now an Australian citizen, Duggan denies the charges brought by the US government.