An defence official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the potential threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been told to refrain from talking about secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to talk about classified material while travelling in Chinese cars.
The minister said that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a issue in every contemporary cars.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a classified classification in any vehicle, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a wise and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, Pollard replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
The revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to switch off public transport and bring disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
This wider defence situation highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in every areas of government activities, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
