A defence official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible security risks associated with Chinese vehicles, while staff have been instructed to avoid talking about secret information in any vehicles.
Safety Guidance for Defence Personnel
In a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to talk about secret material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a concern in all modern vehicles.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a secret level in any vehicle, because of the growing risks of surveillance that exist in all vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. This is a wise and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was put to him that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
This announcement comes as claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
This wider security situation highlights the significance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of official activities, from vehicle use to discussions practices.
