A defense minister has confirmed that the MoD is actively examining the potential threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been told to refrain from talking about secret matters in any cars.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD staff have been told not to discuss classified information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
The minister explained that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but stressed that safety is a concern in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their car, not to have discussions at a classified level in any car, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to restrict those secret talks in secure locations. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
The announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to switch off public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider defence environment underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of official operations, including transport usage to discussions habits.
