Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Monday that China was pursuing reunification with Taiwan on “a much faster timeline.” As I reported in late August, the U.S. military fears that Chinese President Xi Jinping may order an attack on Taiwan within the 2024-2027 window.
Considering that the United States may fight to defend Taiwan, we should be deeply concerned to learn that former British military pilots are training People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, pilots. The often symbiotic cooperation between the U.S. and United Kingdom armed forces means that these U.K. pilots will have exceptional insight into the tactics, techniques, procedures U.S. aircrews employ, and into the capabilities at their disposal. Up to 30 U.K. pilots have served or are serving China, attracted by payoffs approaching $300,000. The BBC’s Gordon Corera notes that the pilots “come from across the military and not just the Royal Air Force. They have flown Typhoons, Jaguars, Harriers and Tornados.”
Unpleasant conclusions follow.
First, the U.K. training cadre will very likely include Royal Air Force Typhoon strike fighter pilots who have trained with their U.S. Air Force counterparts in F-15s, F-16s, and possibly F-35s and F-22s. Those U.S. pilots will be critical to protecting valuable U.S. air and naval assets during any war with China, and fighting to establish areas of air superiority. China will now have insight into how U.S. aircrews will wage that fight at both grand-tactical and specific-flight tactical levels. Similarly, U.K. Fleet Air Arm (Britain’s equivalent of U.S. naval aviation) Harrier pilots will have provided the PLA insight into the U.S. Navy’s aviation warfare. Added alongside the Tornado (a ground attack aircraft) pilots’ expertise, the PLA will have earned insight into how to evade U.S. aircraft carrier screening forces (already a major concern) and how to mitigate effective U.S. targeting of its own naval and ground forces.
THE TWO PROBLEMS WITH BIDEN’S TAIWAN DEFENSE PLEDGE
This is a very serious crisis for the special relationship. Washington and London should take immediate and aggressive steps to mitigate this threat.
As a first step, Prime Minister Liz Truss’s government should recognize the scale of the crisis it faces. U.K. military personnel with deep insight into the military procedures and capabilities of Britain’s closest ally are helping America’s greatest adversary to train to kill U.S. military personnel. The conduct of its former pilots is thus incompatible with Britain’s responsibilities as an ally and its national honor. This conduct also strikes a stark contrast with U.S. intelligence-military support for Britain in moments of national crisis, such as with the recent Brexit negotiations and the 1982 Falkland Islands war. In both those cases, the U.S. made efforts that would have caused significant diplomatic blowback for the U.S. were their extent truly known.
Yes, Britain has traditionally proved itself America’s closest ally. Britons fought and died alongside the U.S. in Iraq (179 killed) and Afghanistan (450+ killed). Many more were wounded in those conflicts. Yes, Britain actually carries its weight in NATO (unlike France and Germany). And yes, Truss’s government deserves credit for new efforts to constrain Chinese aggression. But none of this can excuse the pilots’ crisis.
In turn, the U.K. must introduce emergency legislation, supported by criminal penalties, barring former U.K. military personnel in key skill areas from employment in China’s service. While Truss is under heavy domestic political pressure, this prospective legislation should earn a parliamentary majority. The timing might even be ideal: China has frayed its already weak standing with British public opinion by deploying diplomats to attack protesters outside a consulate in the U.K. on Sunday.
Failing the passage of this near-term legislation, the U.S. military will be forced to suspend air-to-air military training with the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm.
The U.S. government should take its own action. The pilots involved in this training should have their names listed and, alongside their family members, face sanctions. The same approach should apply to military experts from other allies who choose to serve Beijing. The U.S. should also make clear that were war with China ever to occur, former British military personnel in the PLA’s service would be legitimate military targets, regardless of their location during war.
These steps may seem extreme, but the stakes here could hardly be more significant. The special relationship lives and dies on a foundation of trust. U.K. and U.S. military pilots are able to conduct the most sensitive training with one another thanks only to this trust.
At least 30 British pilots have now betrayed that trust in pursuit of a quick buck. Unrestrained, their betrayal risks the lives of young American service personnel and America’s ensuing defeat in war. On Tuesday, I asked my grandfather, a U.S. Marine veteran of the Pacific and former Army officer what he thought my British grandfather, a career RAF officer, would say about the 30 pilots. He paused and responded solemnly, “Tell me about it. Very bad.”
Remedial action is needed without delay.
