A defense official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks posed by Chinese-made cars, and staff have been told to avoid discussing secret matters in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD staff have been told not to talk about classified information while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He explained that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that safety is a concern in all contemporary vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone worried about security.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every cars from China, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
The wider defence environment underscores the significance of robust measures and vigilance in every areas of government activities, including vehicle usage to discussions habits.
