A defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the possible threats posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been advised to refrain from talking about secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, a defence minister addressed claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to talk about classified material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
The minister said that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that security is a issue in all contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any car, because of the growing threats of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone worried about security.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every cars from China, Pollard replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Context
This revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly directing lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider defence situation underscores the importance of strong measures and vigilance in every areas of official activities, from transport use to communication practices.
