An defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been instructed to avoid talking about classified matters in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
In a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed reports that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about classified information while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a issue in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a very small number.
However whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any vehicle, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
This announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel has been directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This wider security environment underscores the importance of strong measures and vigilance in all aspects of government operations, including transport usage to communication practices.
