A defense minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the potential security risks associated with Chinese cars, while staff have been advised to refrain from talking about classified matters in any vehicles.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD officials have been told not to discuss secret material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He stated that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that security is a concern in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to restrict those secret talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using every cars from China, Pollard replied: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
The revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
The wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in all aspects of government operations, including vehicle usage to communication habits.
