A defense official has confirmed that the MoD is actively looking into the possible threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while personnel have been told to avoid talking about secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to discuss classified information while riding in Chinese cars.
He explained that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but stressed that security is a concern in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any vehicle, due to the growing threats of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
This revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider defence situation highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in all aspects of official operations, from vehicle usage to discussions habits.
