A defense official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible threats posed by Chinese cars, and staff have been instructed to avoid discussing secret matters in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
During a recent interview on a radio station, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD staff have been told not to discuss secret information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.
He explained that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but noted that safety is a issue in all contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.
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 MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified classification in any kind of car, because of the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Background
The announcement comes as claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been directing laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
The wider defence situation underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in every areas of official operations, including transport use to communication practices.
