An defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential threats posed by Chinese vehicles, and staff have been instructed to refrain from discussing secret information in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to discuss classified material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but stressed that safety is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has 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 Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their car, not to have discussions at a secret level in any car, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in all automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about security.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every cars from China, Pollard responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation comes as claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese buses, which could allow China to disable buses and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This broader defence environment highlights the importance of robust protocols and vigilance in every aspects of government operations, including transport use to communication practices.
