A defense official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the potential threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while personnel have been advised to avoid discussing secret information in any vehicles.
Security Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss classified material while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a concern in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any car, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Defence Background
This revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
The wider defence environment highlights the importance of robust protocols and caution in every aspects of government activities, from transport use to discussions practices.
