A defence official has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible threats posed by Chinese-made cars, while staff have been advised to refrain from discussing secret matters in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for Defence Personnel
During a recent appearance on a radio station, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to talk about secret information while riding in China-made cars.
He explained that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, but noted that security is a issue in every contemporary cars.
We have a fleet of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology 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 all automobile, to only have those confidential conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Context
The announcement follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off public transport and bring disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The wider security environment highlights the importance of robust measures and vigilance in all aspects of official operations, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
