A defense official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while personnel have been advised to avoid talking about classified information in any cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
During a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to talk about classified information while riding in China-made cars.
He explained that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, however emphasised that security is a issue in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any car, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using every cars from China, the minister replied: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
This revelation comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider defence environment highlights the importance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of government activities, from vehicle use to communication practices.
