A defence minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible security risks posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been told to refrain from discussing secret information in all cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, but stressed that safety is a issue in all modern cars.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug MoD devices into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a classified classification in any vehicle, due to the growing risks of surveillance that exist in every single automobile, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. This is a wise and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
The revelation comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
The wider security environment underscores the importance of robust protocols and caution in every areas of government activities, including vehicle usage to communication practices.
