A defence official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the potential security risks associated with Chinese vehicles, and personnel have been advised to avoid discussing secret information in any vehicles.
Security Advice for MoD Staff
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about secret material while riding in Chinese cars.
He said that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however emphasised that safety is a concern in all contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a secret classification in any vehicle, due to the growing threats of surveillance that are present in all automobile, to restrict those confidential conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested 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.”
Broader Security Context
The revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to switch off buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This wider defence environment underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every areas of official operations, including transport use to communication habits.
