An defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible security risks posed by Chinese vehicles, while staff have been advised to avoid discussing classified matters in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
In a recent appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in China-made vehicles.
He explained that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, however emphasised that safety is a issue in every modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret classification in any vehicle, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
This broader defence situation underscores the importance of strong protocols and caution in all areas of government operations, including transport use to communication practices.
