An defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks posed by Chinese-made cars, while personnel have been told to refrain from talking about secret matters in all cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to discuss secret information while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a concern in every modern vehicles.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified classification in any car, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about security.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel has been shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This wider security situation underscores the importance of strong measures and vigilance in every aspects of government operations, including transport usage to communication habits.
