A defense minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the possible threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while staff have been told to refrain from talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister stated that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but noted that safety is a issue in all contemporary cars.
We have a collection of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence 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 staff is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to only have those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Background
The announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to switch off buses and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
The wider security environment highlights the significance of strong measures and caution in all aspects of official activities, including transport use to communication habits.
