An defence minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the possible security risks associated with Chinese cars, and personnel have been instructed to avoid talking about secret matters in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
In a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about secret material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He explained that the ministry is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however noted that security is a concern in every modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any vehicle, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s 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 all cars from China, the minister responded: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
The announcement follows claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The broader defence situation highlights the importance of strong protocols and caution in every areas of official operations, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
