An defense official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible security risks posed by Chinese-made cars, and personnel have been told to avoid talking about classified information in all cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that MoD staff have been told not to talk about secret information while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the MoD is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but stressed that security is a issue in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified classification in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a wise and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
The announcement comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
This wider security environment highlights the importance of robust protocols and caution in every aspects of government operations, including transport use to communication practices.
