An defense minister has confirmed that the MoD is actively looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been advised to refrain from discussing secret matters in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD officials have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He stated that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however stressed that security is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any car, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
The announcement comes as claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel has been directing lasers at RAF aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The broader defence environment highlights the significance of strong protocols and vigilance in all aspects of government operations, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
