A defence minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been told to refrain from talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired interview on a radio station, a defence minister commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to discuss secret information while riding in China-made cars.
He stated that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that security is a issue in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is not to plug MoD devices into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing risks of surveillance that exist in all automobile, to restrict those confidential conversations in secure locations. This is a wise and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
The revelation comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
This broader defence environment underscores the importance of robust protocols and caution in every areas of government activities, including transport use to communication habits.
