A defense official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, and staff have been advised to avoid talking about classified information in any cars.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to talk about secret information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, but noted that security is a concern in all contemporary cars.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any vehicle, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in every single automobile, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. This is a wise and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
This announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to switch off buses and bring disruption to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been directing laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This wider security environment underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in all areas of government activities, including vehicle usage to discussions practices.
