An defence official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the potential security risks posed by Chinese-made cars, and staff have been advised to refrain from talking about secret matters in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to talk about classified information while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a issue in every modern cars.
We have a collection of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a classified level in any vehicle, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Context
The revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to switch off public transport and bring disruption to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The wider security environment underscores the significance of robust measures and vigilance in every areas of official operations, including transport use to communication practices.
