An defence official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been advised to refrain from talking about secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired appearance on a radio station, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to discuss secret information while riding in Chinese vehicles.
The minister stated that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, however stressed that safety is a concern in all modern vehicles.
We have a collection of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified classification in any car, due to the growing threats of surveillance that are present in every single automobile, to only have those confidential talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Context
This revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining lasers at RAF aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
This wider defence situation highlights the importance of robust measures and vigilance in all areas of official operations, including vehicle usage to discussions practices.
