A defence official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks associated with Chinese vehicles, and personnel have been told to avoid discussing secret information in any vehicles.
Security Advice for MoD Staff
In a recent appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about secret material while riding in China-made cars.
The minister explained that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, but stressed that safety is a issue in all modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret classification in any kind of car, because of the growing threats of surveillance that are present in all automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
The announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could enable China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” action by government representatives.
This wider security situation underscores the significance of strong measures and vigilance in every aspects of government operations, from transport use to communication habits.
