An defence minister has revealed that the MoD is currently investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been instructed to avoid talking about classified information in any cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a issue in every contemporary cars.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any vehicle, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, the minister responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
This wider defence situation highlights the significance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of government activities, including vehicle use to communication practices.
