An defence minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible security risks posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been told to refrain from talking about secret matters in all vehicles.
Security Guidance for Defence Staff
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that MoD officials have been told not to talk about classified material while riding in Chinese cars.
He explained that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but emphasised that safety is a issue in every modern cars.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a secret classification in any car, because of the increasing risks of surveillance that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret talks in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
The revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This wider security situation underscores the significance of robust protocols and caution in all areas of government operations, including vehicle use to discussions practices.
