An defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks associated with Chinese cars, while staff have been instructed to avoid talking about classified information in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired interview on a radio station, a defence minister addressed claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about classified material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re driving 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 discussions at a secret classification in any kind of car, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those confidential conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Background
The revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and cause chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
This broader security environment highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of official activities, including vehicle use to communication habits.
