A defense minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the potential security risks posed by Chinese-made cars, and personnel have been told to refrain from discussing secret information in all vehicles.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
In a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, however stressed that safety is a concern in all modern cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any car, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Defence Background
The announcement follows claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This wider security situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in all areas of official operations, from transport use to communication habits.
