A defense official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and personnel have been told to refrain from discussing secret information in any cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
In a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about classified information while riding in China-made cars.
He said that the MoD is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a concern in all modern cars.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those secret talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly directing lasers at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The wider security environment underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every areas of official operations, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
