An defence official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible threats posed by Chinese-made cars, and staff have been told to refrain from discussing secret information in any cars.
Safety Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD staff have been instructed not to discuss secret material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He stated that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however stressed that security is a issue in all contemporary cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their car, not to have conversations at a classified classification in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, Pollard replied: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
The announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause disruption to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
This broader defence situation highlights the importance of robust protocols and caution in every aspects of government operations, including transport usage to discussions practices.
