An defense official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been told to refrain from discussing classified information in all cars.
Safety Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that MoD staff have been told not to discuss classified information while travelling in Chinese cars.
He explained that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that security is a issue in every modern cars.
We have a fleet of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a secret classification in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing threats of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential conversations in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Context
The revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and cause disruption to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been directing laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The wider security situation highlights the significance of strong protocols and caution in every areas of official activities, including transport usage to communication habits.
