A defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been told to refrain from talking about classified information in any cars.
Security Advice for Defence Staff
In a recent appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to discuss secret information while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister explained that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but noted that safety is a issue in every modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a classified level in any car, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in all automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about security.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
This revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
This wider security environment underscores the importance of robust protocols and vigilance in every aspects of government activities, including transport use to discussions practices.
