An defence minister has revealed that the MoD is actively looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been instructed to refrain from discussing classified matters in all cars.
Security Guidance for Defence Personnel
During a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD officials have been told not to talk about classified material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister explained that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but stressed that security is a issue in every modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any kind of car, because of the growing risks of surveillance that are present in every single automobile, to only have those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
The announcement comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to switch off buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The broader security situation underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in all areas of government operations, including transport usage to communication practices.
