An defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible security risks posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been told to refrain from talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to talk about classified material while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a issue in all modern cars.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, because of the growing risks of eavesdropping that exist in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every cars from China, the minister replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
This announcement follows claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
The broader defence environment highlights the importance of robust protocols and vigilance in all areas of government activities, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
