An defense minister has revealed that the MoD is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about secret matters in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
During a recent appearance on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about secret material while riding in China-made vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but stressed that safety is a concern in every modern vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However whether you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified classification in any kind of car, because of the growing risks of eavesdropping that exist in all automobile, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about security.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘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 multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The broader security environment highlights the importance of robust measures and vigilance in all aspects of government operations, including transport usage to communication habits.
