A defence minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been instructed to avoid discussing secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD staff have been told not to discuss secret material while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister explained that the MoD is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however noted that safety is a issue in every modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However whether you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of surveillance that are present in every single automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard responded: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Broader Security Context
The announcement follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to switch off buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
The wider security situation highlights the importance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of government operations, including transport use to communication habits.
