A defence minister has revealed that the MoD is actively looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while personnel have been told to avoid discussing secret matters in any vehicles.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to discuss secret material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
He stated that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however noted that security is a issue in every contemporary cars.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, Pollard replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
This announcement comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship has been directing laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
The broader security environment highlights the significance of robust measures and caution in all aspects of official activities, including transport usage to communication habits.
