An defense minister has revealed that the MoD is currently looking into the possible threats associated with Chinese-made cars, and personnel have been told to avoid discussing secret matters in any cars.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
In a recently aired appearance on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD staff have been told not to talk about secret information while riding in Chinese vehicles.
The minister said that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.
We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, to avoid having conversations at a classified classification in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing risks of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Background
This revelation follows reports from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at RAF pilots, described as a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider defence situation highlights the significance of robust measures and vigilance in all aspects of government operations, including vehicle usage to discussions habits.
