A defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while staff have been told to avoid talking about secret matters in any vehicles.
Security Guidance for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to talk about classified material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He stated that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, but stressed that security is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any vehicle, because of the growing risks of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a wise and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
This announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This broader defence environment underscores the significance of robust measures and vigilance in every aspects of official operations, including transport use to communication habits.
