China: Armed Forces
(asked on 8th November 2022) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Chinese Armed Forces personnel were provided with training at UK military bases in each year since 2010.
The numbers of Chinese nationals who have attended UK Defence training establishments from 2010 is as follows:
Financial Year | RAF Cranwell | Royal Military Academy Sandhurst | Royal Naval College Dartmouth | Joint Services Command and Staff College Shrivenham | Defence Academy (Royal College of Defence Studies) | All Arms Drill Wing Pirbright | Defence Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Munitions and Search Training Regiment | Total |
2010-11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
2011-12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
2012-13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
2013-14 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
2014-15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
2015-16 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
2016-17 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
2017-18 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
2018-19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 11 |
2019-20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
2020-21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
2021-22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
I offer here a more comprehensive picture than has been previously requested.
Numbers have changed from previous answers for a number of reasons: the inclusion of RCDS (a Defence establishment, but not a military base); the capturing of some activity not previously counted; and some changes due to realigning figures from calendar to financial years.
The UK has never provided training that contained any sensitive information and it did not compromise the Official Secrets Act. No training has been provided to Chinese personnel since 2020, either in the UK or in the People’s Republic of China.