A defence minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese vehicles, while staff have been instructed to avoid talking about classified information in any cars.
Safety Advice for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while riding in Chinese cars.
He said that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its fleets, however emphasised that security is a concern in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a classified level in any vehicle, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to only have those confidential conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
The wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong measures and vigilance in every aspects of official activities, from vehicle usage to communication habits.
