A defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese-made cars, and staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about classified information in all cars.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
In a recent interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to discuss classified information while riding 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 all contemporary cars.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any car, because of the increasing risks of eavesdropping that exist in all automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off buses and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
This wider defence environment highlights the significance of robust protocols and caution in all areas of government activities, including vehicle usage to communication habits.
