After the UK, Australia will look into claims that its pilots are instructing the Chinese military.

Sydney: The British government said it may take legal action to prevent its pilots from being similarly recruited on national security grounds, while Australia's defence minister said the military was looking into claims that some of its former pilots were accepting training positions in China.

On Tuesday, the British government said that it was taking action to prevent China from trying to hire active-duty and retired British military pilots to teach its armed forces. Up to 30 former military pilots, according to the BBC, have gone to China to teach the People's Liberation Army.

Former Australian military pilots allegedly were also recruited to join a South African flight school that operated in China, according to Australia's Minister of Defense Richard Marles, who claimed he had instructed the defence department to look into the claims.

According to Marles, who released a statement, "I would be very startled and saddened to discover if there were individuals who were being tempted by a pay check from a foreign state above serving their own country.

"I have requested that the department look into these claims and return to my office with specific guidance on the subject."

The British Ministry of Defence stated on Twitter that the participating pilots had been warned they ran the danger of legal action under the Official Secrets Act and that a national security bill would open up further avenues for legal action.

A Reuters inquiry into whether the South African company, Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), had employed Australian pilots to work in China was not quickly answered by TFASA.

Online, TFASA stated that it was looking for many fixed wing and helicopter test pilot instructors to serve at an undisclosed location in "Far East Asia" with an initial contract commitment of four years in an undated advertisement with the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP).

It was necessary to have completed military test flight courses in the United States or Great Britain.

One based in Australia who couldn't recall the exact date claimed that the advertisement was issued to all SETP members.

Under the condition of anonymity, the SETP member told Reuters, referring to the intelligence alliance of Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States as "Western/Five Eyes test pilots," "I don't know anyone who has gone." We all attend the specified schools.

According to its website, TFASA also manages a flight school for Chinese airline pilots in South Africa as a joint venture with AVIC, one of China's biggest state-owned aviation firms.

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