A defense minister has revealed that the MoD is currently examining the possible threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been advised to refrain from discussing secret information in any vehicles.
Security Guidance for Defence Staff
In a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on reports that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about secret material while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister said that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, however emphasised that safety is a issue in all contemporary vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any car, because of the growing risks of eavesdropping that exist in all vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every cars from China, Pollard replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to switch off buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel has been shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider security environment underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in all aspects of official activities, including transport usage to discussions habits.
