A defense official has revealed that the MoD is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been advised to avoid talking about secret matters in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to discuss classified information while riding in China-made cars.
The minister stated that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, however stressed that safety is a concern in every modern vehicles.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any vehicle, because of the growing threats of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation comes as claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
The wider security environment underscores the significance of robust measures and caution in every areas of official operations, from vehicle usage to communication habits.
