An defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, and staff have been told to refrain from discussing classified matters in all cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to talk about secret information while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, but noted that safety is a concern in every modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
However whether you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone worried about security.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Broader Security Background
The announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The broader security environment highlights the significance of robust measures and vigilance in every areas of government activities, including transport use to communication practices.
