An defence minister has revealed that the MoD is currently examining the possible threats posed by Chinese cars, while personnel have been instructed to avoid discussing classified information in any cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
During a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about secret material while riding in China-made cars.
The minister said that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about security.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could allow the Chinese government to switch off buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
The broader defence environment highlights the significance of strong measures and vigilance in every aspects of government operations, including transport use to discussions practices.
