A defence minister has confirmed that the MoD is currently investigating the potential security risks posed by Chinese cars, and staff have been advised to avoid talking about classified information in any cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, a defence minister commented on reports that MoD officials have been told not to discuss secret information while riding in Chinese cars.
The minister stated that the MoD is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however emphasised that safety is a issue in every modern cars.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any vehicle, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about security.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and cause chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship has been directing lasers at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
The broader defence situation underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of government activities, including vehicle usage to communication practices.
