An defense minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, and personnel have been told to refrain from talking about secret matters in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss classified material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister stated that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however emphasised that security is a concern in every modern cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But whether you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, because of the growing risks of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Defence Background
The announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
The wider defence situation underscores the importance of strong protocols and caution in all aspects of government activities, including transport use to communication habits.
