A defense official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential security risks associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while personnel have been instructed to avoid discussing secret information in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to discuss classified material while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however noted that safety is a concern in all contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Security Context
This announcement comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
The broader defence environment highlights the importance of robust measures and vigilance in every aspects of official operations, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
