A defense official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese-made cars, and personnel have been told to refrain from talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that MoD staff have been told not to talk about secret material while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister stated that the MoD is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but stressed that security is a concern in every modern vehicles.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a classified classification in any car, because of the growing risks of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
This wider defence situation highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in all areas of official operations, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
