A defense official has revealed that the MoD is actively investigating the potential threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while staff have been told to avoid talking about secret information in all cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret material while riding in China-made cars.
He explained that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however noted that safety is a issue in all modern vehicles.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
However whether you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified classification in any car, because of the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using every cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship has been shining laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
This broader security situation underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of government operations, from vehicle usage to communication practices.
