An defence minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible threats posed by Chinese vehicles, and staff have been told to refrain from talking about secret matters in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to talk about secret information while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister explained that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however noted that safety is a concern in every modern cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any kind of car, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that exist in all automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Defence Context
This revelation comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel has been directing lasers at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This wider defence situation highlights the importance of robust measures and vigilance in every aspects of government operations, from transport use to communication practices.
