US blacklists flight schools across world for training Chinese pilots

The Biden administration has blacklisted a South African flight school for allegedly training Chinese Air Force pilots by retired Western military aviators.

The Test Flying Academy of South Africa is among the 43 other entities that have been added to an export control list by the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.

On Monday, the bureau designated 43 companies, including Frontier Services Group Ltd, a security and aviation company previously run by Erik Prince, for “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”

US crackdown on Chinese pilot training

The Test Flying Academy of South Africa is only one of the many other similar aviation companies sanctioned by the US.

It, however, has also been scrutinised by authorities in Britain for hiring former British pilots to train Chinese military fliers.

Meanwhile, companies like Frontier Services Group sites in China, Kenya, Laos and the United Arab Emirates; TFASA units in South Africa, China, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom; and aerospace and defence conglomerate Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) are among the many entities added to the new sanction list.

These companies have also been accused of acquiring US-origin items in support of China’s military modernisation, including hypersonic weapons development and hypersonic flight modelling, according to a statement by the US Commerce Department.

“It is imperative that we prevent China from acquiring US technologies and know-how to enable their military modernisation programmes,” Matthew Axelrod, a Commerce official, said in a statement.

Germany asks China not to poach ex-air force pilots

China has been recruiting Germany’s ex-air force pilots and so the latter has asked the former to stop doing so, fearing they would spill NATO-related secrets.

“I raised the question of Germany air force pilots who have apparently been recruited to train (Chinese) pilots,” Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters.

He was speaking after meeting his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu on the margins of a defence and security conference in Singapore.

“I indicated clearly that I expected this practice to cease immediately and told him he probably wouldn’t be very pleased either if I tried to do the same thing,” Pistorius added.

Pistorius claimed that Li “did not deny it but downplayed its importance.”

According to the German weekly Der Spiegel and public TV channel ZDF reported on Friday that China has been employing German pilots to train their own pilots.

China slams sanctions

China on Tuesday asked the US to “stop abusing export control measures” while slamming the country for blacklisting companies.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, “The United States has repeatedly overstretched the concept of national security, abused state power, unwarrantedly suppressed Chinese companies, and wantonly disrupted the international economic order and trade rules.”

“It has reached a level of unscrupulous hysteria,” he added.

“China demands that the US immediately correct its wrong practice of politicizing, instrumentalizing, and weaponizing economic, trade, and sci-tech issues with a pretext of human rights or military-related issues.” Wenbin continued.

With inputs fro agencies

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