WASHINGTON — The US and other “Five Eyes” countries on Wednesday warned that China has been circumventing measures aimed at halting its recruitment of current and former Western military pilots and other personnel to train the Chinese military.

“Western recruits who train the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) may increase the risk of future conflict by reducing our deterrence capabilities,” said a public bulletin issued by the US, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand intelligence services.

The notice is the latest warning by the English-speaking “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance about rising concerns with Chinese government-directed espionage, cyber hacking and intellectual property theft as Beijing’s growing might has roiled relations with Washington and its allies.

China’s embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The PLA is using private companies in South Africa and China to hire former fighter pilots, flight engineers and air operations center personnel from Western countries to train its Air Force and Navy aviators, the services said in the notice.

“The PLA wants the skills and expertise of these individuals to make its own military air operations more capable while gaining insight into Western air tactics, techniques, and procedures,” the notice said.

It said the efforts represented a “persistent, adaptive threat,” with the insight gleaned by the PLA a threat to “US and allied security.”

EXOTIC AIRCRAFT
In one high-profile case, former US Marine pilot Daniel Duggan is fighting extradition from Australia on US charges of training Chinese military pilots through a South African flight school in how to land on aircraft carriers.

Mr. Duggan, a naturalized Australian citizen, faces US charges including money laundering and breaking arms control law. He denies the allegations.

Personnel are often contacted through headhunting emails or personal acquaintances from the military, or by privately owned companies with hidden ties to the PLA, the notice said.

The Five Eyes agencies asked people to guard against such offers, which they said often entail promises of lucrative salaries or excessive flattery, and to report any attempts to the Federal Bureau of Investigation or military investigators in their countries.

One official from the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), speaking on condition of anonymity, said the governments issued the warning at this time because China “has been adapting” to countermeasures aimed at thwarting recruitment.

Western pilots have been lured into training Chinese pilots by “tons of money” and opportunities “to fly really exotic” Chinese aircraft, said a US official familiar with the matter.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that the Chinese military had recruited at least five former pilots from New Zealand and some 30 from Britain, as well as former pilots from Germany and other countries.

The US Commerce Department last year sanctioned more than a dozen companies in China, Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United Arab Emirates for their roles in recruiting Western military talent for PLA aviation training.

The US official said the Test Flying Academy of South Africa is “one of the biggest companies” that has been hiring Western former military pilots to train Chinese pilots and has continued doing so despite US sanctions.

The company did not respond immediately to Reuters’ request for comment.

In a statement on its website last year, the company said it “does not provide any classified military training, nor train frontline pilots, and all training is based on open-source material or material provided by clients.”

It has said it operates with the approval of South African government agencies, does not employ US nationals and had terminated the employment of British nationals following “legal challenges in the UK in 2023.” — Reuters

A PERSON with prior health complications who had contracted bird flu died in Mexico in April and the source of exposure to the virus was unknown, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

WHO said the current risk of bird flu virus to the general population is low.

The 59-year-old resident of the State of Mexico had been hospitalized in Mexico City and died on April 24 after developing a fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general discomfort, WHO said.

“Although the source of exposure to the virus in this case is currently unknown, A(H5N2) viruses have been reported in poultry in Mexico,” WHO said in a statement.

It was the first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with an influenza A(H5N2) virus globally and the first avian H5 virus reported in a person in Mexico, according to the WHO.

Scientists said the case is unrelated to the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in the United States that has so far infected three dairy farm workers.

Mexico’s Health Ministry also said in a statement the source of infection had not been identified.

The victim had no history of exposure to poultry or other animals but had multiple underlying medical conditions and had been bedridden for three weeks, for other reasons, prior to the onset of acute symptoms, the WHO said.

Mexico’s health ministry said the person had chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.

“That immediately puts a person at risk of more severe influenza, even with seasonal flu,” said Andrew Pekosz, an influenza expert at Johns Hopkins University.

But how this individual got infected “is a big question mark that at least this initial report doesn’t really address thoroughly.”

In March, Mexico’s government reported an outbreak of A(H5N2) in an isolated family unit in the country’s western Michoacan state. The government said the cases did not represent a risk to distant commercial farms, nor to human health.

After the April death, Mexican authorities confirmed the presence of the virus and reported the case to the WHO, the agency said.

Mexico’s Health Ministry said there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission in the case and farms near the victim’s home were monitored.

Other people in contact with the person tested negative for bird flu, the health ministry and the WHO said.

Bird flu has infected mammals such as seals, raccoons, bears and cattle, primarily due to contact with infected birds.

Scientists are on alert for changes in the virus that could signal it is adapting to spread more easily among humans.

The United States has reported three cases of H5N1 human infection after exposure to cows since an outbreak was detected in dairy cattle in March. Two had symptoms of conjunctivitis, while the third also had respiratory symptoms.

Although the death in Mexico was not the same strain as the one that is currently infecting cattle in the United States, they are both H5 avian viruses.

Mr. Pekosz said that since 1997, H5 viruses have continuously shown a propensity to infect mammals more than any other avian influenza virus.

“So it continues to ring that warning bell that we should be very vigilant about monitoring for these infections, because every spillover is an opportunity for that virus to try to accumulate those mutations that make it better infect humans,” Mr. Pekosz said.

Australia reported its first human case of A(H5N1) infection in May, noting there were no signs of transmission. It has however found more poultry cases of H7 bird flu on farms in Victoria state. — Reuters

HANOI — Vietnam real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, sentenced to death in the country’s largest-ever financial fraud case, had illegally transferred money abroad, according to police, with state media on Thursday reporting $4.5 billion had been moved.

Police said late on Wednesday an investigation into those transfers and money laundering has been completed, but gave no further details.

State media said on Thursday that Ms. Lan had illegally transferred $1.5 billion out of Vietnam and moved $3 billion into the country. The reports did not specify which countries were the recipients or origins of that money.

A court in April sentenced Ms. Lan to death for her role in siphoning off more than $12 billion from Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), which she effectively controlled through dozens of proxies, despite rules strictly limiting large shareholding in lenders.

SCB did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday and Ms. Lan’s legal representatives could not be reached.

Ms. Lan is also accused of laundering 445.7 trillion dong, including the money she and her accomplices siphoned off from SCB and from her illegal bond issuance, Thanh Nien newspaper reported on Thursday. — Reuters