A defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the potential security risks associated with Chinese-made cars, and personnel have been instructed to avoid talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about classified information while travelling in China-made cars.
He said that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but noted that safety is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
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 not to plug MoD technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing threats of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
The revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and cause disruption to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
The broader security situation underscores the significance of strong protocols and caution in every areas of official activities, including transport use to communication habits.
