A defence minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, and staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about classified matters in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recent appearance on LBC, a defence minister commented on reports that MoD officials have been instructed not to discuss secret information while travelling in China-made cars.
He stated that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that security is a issue in all modern cars.
Our department has a collection of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However whether you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any car, due to the growing risks of surveillance that exist in all vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a wise and sensible thing for anyone worried about security.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
The revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The broader security environment underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in all aspects of government operations, from vehicle use to discussions practices.
