A defence minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been instructed to refrain from discussing secret information in all vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired appearance on a radio station, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss secret information while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that safety is a issue in every contemporary cars.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified classification in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider security environment underscores the significance of robust protocols and caution in every aspects of government activities, from vehicle use to communication habits.
