A defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible threats posed by Chinese cars, while personnel have been advised to avoid discussing secret information in all cars.
Security Guidance for Defence Staff
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about classified material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister explained that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but noted that security is a concern in all contemporary vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their car, not to have discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
The revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
The broader security environment highlights the importance of strong measures and vigilance in every aspects of official activities, including vehicle usage to communication practices.
