A defense minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks posed by Chinese vehicles, while staff have been instructed to avoid discussing secret information in all cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to discuss classified material while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister said that the MoD is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however stressed that security is a issue in all modern vehicles.
We have a collection of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any kind of vehicle, because of the increasing risks of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using all cars from China, Pollard replied: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Defence Context
The announcement comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off public transport and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This broader security situation underscores the importance of robust protocols and caution in all areas of official activities, including vehicle usage to discussions habits.
