An defense minister has stated that the MoD is actively investigating the potential security risks associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been instructed to avoid talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about classified information while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister stated that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that security is a concern in all modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
However whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any car, due to the growing threats of surveillance that are present in all automobile, to only have those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in all areas of official activities, from transport use to communication habits.
