A defence official has confirmed that the MoD is currently investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been instructed to avoid discussing classified information in all cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister stated that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that safety is a issue in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
However whether you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their car, not to have conversations at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Defence Context
This announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and bring disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship has been shining lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider security situation underscores the significance of strong protocols and caution in every areas of government operations, including transport usage to communication practices.
