A defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about secret matters in any cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He explained that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however noted that security is a concern in all modern cars.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in all automobile, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. That’s a wise and sensible thing for anyone worried about security.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese buses, which could enable China to switch off buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
This wider defence situation underscores the significance of robust protocols and caution in every areas of government operations, including vehicle usage to discussions practices.
