An defence official has confirmed that the MoD is actively looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been told to refrain from talking about classified information in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
During a recent appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss classified information while travelling in Chinese cars.
He said that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but stressed that safety is a issue in every modern vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their car, not to have conversations at a secret classification in any car, because of the increasing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, Pollard replied: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Context
This revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off public transport and bring disruption to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider security situation underscores the importance of strong protocols and caution in every aspects of official activities, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
