An defense minister has confirmed that the MoD is currently looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while personnel have been told to refrain from talking about classified matters in all cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD officials have been told not to discuss secret information while riding in China-made cars.
He explained that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but noted that safety is a concern in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing risks of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone worried about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using all cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
The revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to switch off buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
This wider security situation highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in every areas of government activities, including vehicle use to communication habits.
