A defence minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, while staff have been advised to avoid discussing classified information in all cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
During a recent appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that MoD staff have been told not to talk about secret information while riding in China-made cars.
The minister said that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, however stressed that safety is a concern in every modern vehicles.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their car, not to have conversations at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using every cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Defence Context
The announcement follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable public transport and bring disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
The wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong measures and vigilance in every aspects of official activities, including transport use to discussions habits.
