A defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while staff have been instructed to avoid discussing secret information in all cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recent appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD officials have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, however stressed that safety is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles 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 people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any vehicle, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, Pollard responded: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
The announcement comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK 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 intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This wider defence environment highlights the significance of strong protocols and vigilance in every areas of government activities, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
