A defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the possible threats posed by Chinese vehicles, and personnel have been advised to refrain from discussing secret information in all cars.
Security Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recent appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to discuss secret material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He stated that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but stressed that safety is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the growing threats of surveillance that exist in all vehicle, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for everyone worried about security.
When it was suggested that it would be wise 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 follows claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The wider security environment underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in all areas of government activities, including transport usage to discussions habits.
