A defense minister has stated that the MoD is actively examining the possible threats posed by Chinese-made cars, and personnel have been told to avoid discussing secret information in any cars.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about secret material while riding in Chinese cars.
The minister said that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a concern in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent 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 Ministry of Defence devices into their car, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any car, because of the increasing risks of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Defence Background
The announcement comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to switch off public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider defence situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every areas of official activities, including transport usage to discussions practices.