A defence official has revealed that the MoD is currently looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, and staff have been told to refrain from talking about classified information in any cars.
Security Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss secret material while travelling in China-made cars.
He said that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a issue in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing threats of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using every cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Broader Security Context
This announcement follows claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
This wider defence environment underscores the importance of robust protocols and caution in all aspects of government activities, including transport use to communication habits.
