An defense minister has stated that the MoD is actively looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese vehicles, and staff have been advised to refrain from talking about classified matters in any vehicles.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss secret information while riding in China-made cars.
He explained that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a issue in every modern cars.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a very small number.
But whether you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any car, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for everyone worried about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, the minister responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
The revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider defence environment underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every areas of official operations, including transport usage to discussions habits.
