An defense minister has revealed that the MoD is actively examining the potential threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been told to avoid talking about classified information in all cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about classified information while riding in Chinese cars.
He stated that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, but emphasised that safety is a concern in all contemporary cars.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every cars from China, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
This announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The wider defence environment underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in all areas of official operations, from vehicle use to communication habits.
