A defence minister has revealed that the MoD is actively investigating the possible security risks associated with Chinese vehicles, while personnel have been instructed to refrain from discussing secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
In a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to discuss secret information while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however noted that security is a concern in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential conversations in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using every cars from China, the minister responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Context
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off public transport and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
This wider defence environment underscores the significance of strong protocols and caution in all aspects of official activities, including transport use to communication habits.
