An defence official has confirmed that the MoD is currently examining the potential threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and personnel have been told to refrain from talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Security Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired interview on a radio station, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a issue in every modern cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any vehicle, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard replied: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Context
This revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This broader security environment highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in all aspects of official operations, including vehicle usage to communication practices.
