China reveals plans to train 5,000 soldiers from developing nations over the next five years

‘China would also encourage more exchanges and cooperation among university-level military and police academies’

China has revealed plans to train 5,000 soldiers from developing nations over the next five years.

The announcement, which appeared in a paper on Beijing’s Global Security Initiative published earlier this week, comes amid a move to boost Beijing’s global security influence.

According to SCMP, the report said: “Beijing plans to create more international platforms for exchange and cooperation to address security challenges in areas such as counterterrorism, cybersecurity, biosecurity, and emerging technologies, with a view to improving governance capacity in non-traditional security.”

“China would also encourage more exchanges and cooperation among university-level military and police academies,” the report added.

It also mentioned that China is providing upto 5,000 training opportunities for soldiers from developing nations over the next five years to help Beijing with global security issues.

Last year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced that China would train 2,000 soldiers from SCO member countries over the next five years and set up a training base focusing on anti-terrorism work.

In October 2022, China also recruited as many as 30 former RAF pilots to defeat western warplanes and helicopters. The move prompted British defence intelligence to issue a “threat alert”.

At the time, British officials claimed that Beijing lured the retired military pilots for a hefty annual salary of around £240,000.

Britain, however, had its hand tied as the recruitment did not violate any of the existing laws, including the Official Secrets Act which covers espionage and sabotage.

However, officials ramped up efforts to deter the hiring due to the “threat” they pose to “the UK and western interests”.

“We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to head hunt serving and former UK Armed Forces pilots to train People’s Liberation Army personnel in the People’s Republic of China,” a Defence Ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by the New York Times.