A defence official has stated that the MoD is currently looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese vehicles, while staff have been advised to avoid discussing classified information in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
In a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to discuss classified material while riding in China-made vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but noted that security is a concern in every contemporary cars.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a very small number.
However whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any car, because of the growing risks of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every cars from China, Pollard replied: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Security Background
This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly directing lasers at RAF aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
This broader defence situation underscores the importance of strong protocols and caution in every aspects of government operations, including transport usage to communication habits.
