An defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible security risks posed by Chinese cars, while staff have been advised to avoid discussing secret matters in all cars.
Security Advice for Defence Personnel
During a recent interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on reports that MoD staff have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in Chinese cars.
He explained that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.
But whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a secret classification in any kind of car, due to the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single automobile, to only have those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using every cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
The announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been directing lasers at RAF aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.
This wider security situation underscores the significance of strong measures and caution in all areas of official operations, including transport usage to discussions practices.
