An defence minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the potential threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, and personnel have been instructed to avoid discussing secret matters in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
During a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD staff have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
He stated that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however noted that safety is a issue in every contemporary cars.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
However whether you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing risks of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, Pollard replied: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
This wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong protocols and caution in every aspects of government operations, including transport usage to communication practices.
