An defense official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible security risks posed by Chinese-made cars, and staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about classified matters in any cars.
Security Advice for MoD Staff
In a recent interview on a radio station, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD officials have been told not to talk about classified information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He stated that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but noted that safety is a issue in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a wise and sensible thing for anyone worried about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, Pollard responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
The revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and bring disruption to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This broader defence situation highlights the importance of robust measures and vigilance in every areas of government activities, including transport use to discussions habits.
