A defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, and staff have been told to refrain from discussing classified information in all cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about classified material while riding in Chinese cars.
He said that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however stressed that security is a concern in all contemporary cars.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However whether 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 car, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a wise and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Defence Context
The revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
The broader security environment highlights the importance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of official operations, including transport usage to communication practices.
