An defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about secret information in any cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to discuss classified information while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister stated that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but emphasised that safety is a concern in all modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff 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 all automobile, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
This revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel has been shining lasers at RAF aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
This wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong protocols and caution in all aspects of official activities, including vehicle usage to discussions practices.
