An defense official has revealed that the MoD is currently examining the potential threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been advised to refrain from talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to discuss secret material while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister stated that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that security is a concern in all modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about security.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all cars from China, Pollard responded: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
The wider defence environment highlights the significance of strong measures and vigilance in all aspects of official operations, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
