A defense minister has stated that the MoD is actively looking into the possible threats posed by Chinese-made cars, while personnel have been told to refrain from talking about secret matters in all vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about classified material while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister stated that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however noted that safety is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified classification in any vehicle, because of the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a wise and sensible thing for everyone 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 is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Defence Context
The announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel has been directing laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of official activities, including transport use to communication practices.
