A defence minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while staff have been told to avoid talking about secret matters in all cars.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
In a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to discuss classified information while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but stressed that security is a issue in every contemporary cars.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any car, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel has been directing laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
This broader defence situation underscores the significance of strong protocols and vigilance in every areas of official operations, from vehicle use to communication habits.
