A defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible threats posed by Chinese cars, while personnel have been advised to refrain from discussing secret matters in all cars.
Security Advice for MoD Staff
During a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to discuss secret material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He stated that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that security is a issue in every modern cars.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those secret talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Defence Context
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
This broader defence situation highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of official activities, from vehicle usage to discussions habits.
