A defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the potential threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while staff have been advised to refrain from talking about classified information in any cars.
Security Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, a defence minister addressed reports that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about classified material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
The minister explained that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but stressed that safety is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence 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, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their car, not to have conversations at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all cars from China, Pollard responded: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to switch off public transport and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
This wider security situation highlights the significance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of official activities, from transport use to discussions practices.
