An defense official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks posed by Chinese vehicles, and personnel have been advised to refrain from talking about secret matters in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to talk about classified material while travelling in China-made cars.
He said that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but noted that security is a issue in every contemporary cars.
We have a collection of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
However whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about security.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Background
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring disruption to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
The broader defence environment highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in all areas of government activities, including vehicle use to communication practices.
