A defense official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the potential threats associated with Chinese cars, and personnel have been advised to refrain from discussing secret information in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been instructed not to discuss classified information while travelling in China-made cars.
He explained that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that safety is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any car, because of the growing threats of eavesdropping that are present in every single vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in protected areas. This is a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, Pollard replied: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
The announcement comes as reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could allow China to switch off buses and cause disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
The wider security situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in all aspects of government operations, including transport use to discussions habits.
