A defence minister has confirmed that the MoD is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while personnel have been advised to refrain from talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recent appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
The minister stated that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a issue in all contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any car, due to the growing threats of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about security.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This broader defence environment highlights the importance of strong measures and caution in all areas of government activities, including transport usage to communication practices.
