An defense minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks posed by Chinese-made cars, while staff have been instructed to refrain from discussing classified matters in all cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Personnel
In a recently aired interview on a radio station, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to discuss classified information while travelling in China-made cars.
The minister explained that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but noted that security is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified classification in any vehicle, due to the increasing risks of eavesdropping that exist in all automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using all cars from China, the minister replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Broader Defence Context
This revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the UK to the existence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.
This wider security environment underscores the importance of robust protocols and caution in every aspects of government activities, including vehicle use to communication practices.
