An defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential threats associated with Chinese-made cars, and staff have been advised to refrain from discussing secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to discuss secret information while travelling in China-made vehicles.
He explained that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that security is a issue in all contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any car, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Security Context
This announcement comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow China to switch off buses and cause disruption to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This wider security environment underscores the significance of robust measures and vigilance in every aspects of government activities, including vehicle use to communication practices.
