An defense official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the potential security risks posed by Chinese cars, while personnel have been advised to avoid discussing classified information in all cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
During a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD officials have been told not to talk about secret material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He explained that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that security is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
But whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car 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 secret level in any car, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to restrict those confidential conversations in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
This wider defence environment underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every areas of government activities, including vehicle usage to communication habits.
