A defense minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the potential security risks posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been instructed to refrain from discussing secret information in any cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on reports that MoD officials have been told not to talk about classified information while riding in China-made cars.
He said that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however noted that security is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any vehicle, due to the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in protected areas. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This announcement follows claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to switch off public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
This broader security situation underscores the significance of strong measures and vigilance in all areas of official activities, including transport usage to discussions practices.
