A defence minister has confirmed that the MoD is currently investigating the possible threats posed by Chinese vehicles, and staff have been advised to refrain from discussing classified matters in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
During a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that MoD staff have been told not to discuss classified information while riding in China-made vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however noted that safety is a concern in all modern cars.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug MoD technology into their car, not to have conversations at a secret level in any vehicle, because of the increasing risks of surveillance that exist in all automobile, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all cars from China, the minister replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
This announcement comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The wider defence environment underscores the significance of strong measures and vigilance in every areas of official activities, including vehicle usage to discussions habits.
