The British Royal Navy has reportedly abandoned a century-old custom of employing Chinese laundrymen on its warships because of fears that they could be coerced by Beijing into stealing military secrets.
UK officials are so concerned about the Navy’s traditional ‘servants’, who hail mostly from Hong Kong, that Nepalese Gurkhas are being hired to replace them, The Sun newspaper reported on Monday. “Spy catchers fear Beijing could threaten laundrymen’s loved ones in China to make them pass on Navy secrets,” the newspaper said.
Hundreds of Chinese laundrymen have worked on British warships – cleaning and pressing sailors’ uniforms and officers’ tablecloths – since the early 1900s, when Hong Kong was a UK colony. The tradition began as a local custom and developed to involve a steady supply of laborers from contractors in Hong Kong.
Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West said it was disappointing to see the tradition end. “If it is a question of security, the Navy has no choice, but it’s sad, as Chinese laundrymen have fought wars with us,” he told The Sun. “Some have died for us.”
Just astonishing colonial mentality. Comical if it wasn't so disgusting.
Goodness knows I guess they have to maintain their weird hierarchy of powdered wig wearing aristocracy officer freaks at the top then the enlisted fodder but at least make the enlisted fodder feel better by having them served by colonial slaves they can look down on.
(Original RT link: https://www.rt.com/news/585633-uk-navy-ditches-chinese-laundrymen/ )
If your concern is about national security, why the heck are you hiring Nepalese Ghurkas who have never seen an ocean in their lives? Why can't the British do their own laundry themselves?
Is it that they have a fetish for foreign laundry servants, or that the working conditions of laundrymen on their ships are so poor that no full-blooded Brit would ever consider the job?