US limits exports to flight schools, others for training Chinese military pilots

The listed companies are restricted from receiving US exports for other activities deemed contrary to US interests, including acquiring US items for China’s military modernization.

 A Comac C919, China's first large passenger jet, flies away on its first commercial flight from the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, China May 28, 2023 (photo credit: ALY SONG/REUTERS)
A Comac C919, China's first large passenger jet, flies away on its first commercial flight from the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, China May 28, 2023
(photo credit: ALY SONG/REUTERS)

The Biden administration on Monday added 43 entities to an export control list, including Frontier Services Group Ltd, a security and aviation company previously run by Erik Prince, for training Chinese military pilots and other activities that threaten US national security,

The Test Flying Academy of South Africa, a flight school under scrutiny by authorities in Britain for recruiting British ex-military pilots to train Chinese military fliers, was also added to the Entity List.

The listed companies are restricted from receiving US exports for other activities deemed contrary to US interests, including acquiring US items for China’s military modernization.

  Employees work on a China's home-grown C919 passenger jet at Manufacturing and Final Assembly Center of state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) during a media tour in Shanghai, China May 4, 2017.  (credit: REUTERS/ALY SONG/FILE PHOTO)
Employees work on a China's home-grown C919 passenger jet at Manufacturing and Final Assembly Center of state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) during a media tour in Shanghai, China May 4, 2017. (credit: REUTERS/ALY SONG/FILE PHOTO)

The new listings in the export control list

The new listings include numerous aviation companies and flying academies including Frontier Services Group Ltd at sites in China, Kenya, Laos and the United Arab Emirates; TFASA units in China, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom; and AVIC entities in China and South Africa.

The aviation-related companies were listed for providing training to Chinese military pilots using Western and NATO sources, according to a rule posted for the Federal Register.

In addition, companies were listed for enabling China to carry out human rights abuses, including as part of its repression of the Ugyhur Muslims and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang, western China.