A defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is currently investigating the possible threats associated with Chinese-made vehicles, while staff have been told to refrain from talking about classified matters in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
During a recent interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to talk about secret information while riding in China-made vehicles.
The minister said that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but emphasised that security is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a secret level in any car, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone worried about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using all Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
The announcement follows reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could allow China to disable public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship has been directing laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
The wider defence situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every aspects of government activities, including vehicle usage to communication habits.
