An defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible threats associated with Chinese vehicles, and staff have been advised to refrain from talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
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 material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister explained that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a concern in every modern cars.
Our department has a collection of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
However whether 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 conversations at a classified level in any car, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a wise and sensible thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Context
The announcement follows claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring disruption to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
This wider defence situation underscores the importance of strong protocols and caution in every areas of government operations, including vehicle use to communication habits.
