An defense minister has stated that the MoD is currently examining the potential security risks associated with Chinese vehicles, and personnel have been instructed to refrain from talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister said that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however noted that security is a issue in all modern cars.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their car, not to have discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the increasing risks of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation comes as claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and cause disruption to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This broader security situation underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every areas of government activities, including vehicle usage to communication practices.
