A defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the possible threats posed by Chinese-made cars, while staff have been told to avoid talking about classified information in all cars.
Security Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about classified material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but noted that security is a issue in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a collection of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their car, not to have conversations at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in all automobile, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation comes as claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia intelligence vessel has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This broader defence situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of official activities, including transport use to communication practices.
