A defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been told to refrain from talking about classified matters in all cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD staff have been told not to discuss secret information while riding in Chinese vehicles.
The minister explained that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but stressed that safety is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any car, due to the increasing risks of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
This revelation comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
This wider defence environment highlights the significance of strong measures and vigilance in all aspects of official activities, from transport use to discussions habits.
