A defense official has confirmed that the MoD is actively examining the possible security risks associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been instructed to avoid talking about secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about classified material while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister stated that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however noted that security is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any vehicle, due to the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Background
The announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and bring disruption to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship has been shining laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The wider defence environment highlights the significance of robust protocols and caution in all areas of official activities, including transport usage to discussions practices.
