An defense official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been told to avoid talking about classified matters in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about secret information while travelling in Chinese cars.
He stated that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but noted that safety is a concern in every modern vehicles.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using every cars from China, Pollard replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Context
The announcement comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and cause disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship has been directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
This broader defence environment highlights the importance of strong measures and caution in every areas of official operations, from transport usage to discussions practices.
