An defense official has confirmed that the MoD is currently examining the potential threats associated with Chinese cars, while personnel have been told to refrain from discussing classified matters in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in Chinese cars.
He said that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that security is a concern in every contemporary cars.
We have a collection of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But 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, not to have conversations at a classified level in any vehicle, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those confidential conversations in secure locations. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
This revelation follows claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel has been directing lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider defence environment underscores the importance of robust protocols and vigilance in all aspects of official operations, including transport use to discussions practices.
