A defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the possible threats posed by Chinese-made cars, and staff have been advised to refrain from discussing secret information in any cars.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recent interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to discuss secret material while travelling in China-made vehicles.
The minister explained that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however noted that security is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a secret level in any kind of car, because of the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone worried about security.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
The announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.
Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
This wider security environment highlights the importance of strong measures and vigilance in every aspects of government activities, including transport usage to communication habits.
