An defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the possible threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while personnel have been advised to refrain from discussing secret information in any cars.
Security Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to discuss secret information while travelling in Chinese cars.
He said that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, however emphasised that safety is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any car, because of the increasing risks of surveillance that exist in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, the minister responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to switch off public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
This wider defence situation underscores the importance of strong measures and vigilance in every areas of government operations, including vehicle use to discussions habits.
