A defence minister has stated that the MoD is actively looking into the possible threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, and personnel have been told to refrain from talking about classified matters in any cars.
Security Guidance for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on a radio station, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
The minister explained that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but stressed that safety is a issue in every modern cars.
We have a fleet of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for anyone concerned about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using every cars from China, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Defence Context
This announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
The wider security situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of government activities, including transport use to communication habits.
