A defense official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential threats associated with Chinese vehicles, and staff have been advised to avoid talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Security Advice for Defence Staff
During a recent interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in Chinese cars.
The minister explained that the MoD is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but noted that safety is a concern in every contemporary cars.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any car, due to the growing risks of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using all cars from China, Pollard replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
The revelation comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to switch off buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This broader security environment underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every areas of official activities, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
