Minister Says Ministry of Defence Looking at Potential Threat from Vehicles from China, with Personnel Instructed to Avoid Confidential Discussions in Cars.
An defence minister has stated that the MoD is currently looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been instructed to avoid talking about classified matters in all vehicles.
Security Advice for Defence Staff
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to discuss classified information while riding in China-made cars.
The minister said that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but stressed that safety is a issue in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, because of the growing risks of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
The revelation comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider defence situation underscores the significance of robust protocols and caution in every aspects of government operations, including transport usage to communication habits.