An defence minister has confirmed that the MoD is actively examining the possible threats associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been instructed to avoid talking about secret information in all vehicles.
Security Guidance for Defence Staff
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to discuss classified information while travelling in Chinese cars.
He explained that the MoD is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however stressed that safety is a issue in all contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a secret classification in any kind of vehicle, because of the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to restrict those confidential conversations in protected areas. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, the minister responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
This revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider security situation highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in all areas of government operations, including transport use to communication practices.
