An defense official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been told to avoid discussing secret matters in any cars.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret material while travelling in Chinese cars.
He said that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that safety is a concern in all contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
But whether you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any vehicle, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Security Context
The announcement follows reports 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 chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This broader defence environment underscores the importance of robust measures and vigilance in every areas of government operations, including transport use to communication practices.
