German Defense Minister Pistorius calls on China to stop recruiting former German pilots

Reuters reported that Pistorius said that in a meeting with Li at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore, he made it clear that he expected an immediate end to the policy of recruiting ex-Lutheran pilots.

In addition, the German minister added that China did not deny the practice of hiring former German military pilots, but downplayed its importance.

Pistorius also added that he had pointed out to the Chinese Defense Minister the importance of maintaining a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region and emphasized the importance of freedom of navigation in the region to keep sea lanes and trade routes open.

It is worth noting that the day before, the German portal Spiegel published an investigation according to which former Luftwaffe fighter pilots had been training Chinese military pilots for years.

It is also known that German intelligence services believe it is highly likely that the pilots passed on expert military knowledge, such as secret operational tactics of the German Armed Forces and NATO, and may have even practiced attack scenarios that China might find useful for an offensive against Taiwan.

After that, the German Ministry of Defense promised to verify the information provided by the media.

• Earlier, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius emphasized the need to continue military support for Ukraine to protect it from Russian aggression.