A defense official has confirmed that the MoD is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese cars, and personnel have been advised to refrain from talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
In a recent appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to discuss classified material while riding in China-made cars.
He explained that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however noted that security is a concern in all contemporary cars.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But 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, not to have discussions at a secret classification in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a wise and sensible thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all cars from China, Pollard replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to switch off buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship has been shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
The wider security environment underscores the significance of robust measures and caution in every areas of government activities, including transport usage to communication habits.
