An defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while personnel have been advised to avoid talking about secret information in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about classified information while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister stated that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but noted that safety is a concern in all contemporary vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our staff is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their car, not to have conversations at a classified classification in any kind of car, because of the growing risks of surveillance that exist in all automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This revelation comes as claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could allow China to disable buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of official activities, including vehicle usage to discussions practices.
