An defence minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the potential security risks posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been told to avoid talking about classified information in any cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
During a recent appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to discuss secret material while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however noted that security is a concern in all modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a classified classification in any vehicle, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in all automobile, to restrict those confidential conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
The announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
The broader defence environment underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of official operations, from transport usage to communication habits.
