A defense official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been instructed to refrain from discussing classified matters in all cars.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to discuss secret information while travelling in Chinese cars.
The minister stated that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that security is a concern in every contemporary cars.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any car, because of the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
This announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and cause disruption to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly directing laser beams at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider security situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of government operations, including transport usage to communication habits.
