An defense minister has confirmed that the MoD is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese cars, and personnel have been advised to avoid discussing classified matters in all cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to talk about classified material while riding in China-made cars.
He stated that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, but noted that safety is a concern in all modern cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any kind of car, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a prudent 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 every cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Context
This revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to switch off buses and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This wider security situation highlights the importance of robust protocols and caution in every areas of government operations, including transport usage to communication practices.
