A defense minister has confirmed that the MoD is actively looking into the possible threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, and staff have been told to refrain from talking about classified information in all vehicles.
Safety Advice for MoD Staff
In a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to discuss secret material while riding in Chinese cars.
The minister explained that the ministry is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but stressed that security is a concern in every modern cars.
We have a collection of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a very small number.
But whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, what we’ve asked our people is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, because of the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in every single vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.
After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to stop using every Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the moment.”
Broader Security Context
The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.
This broader defence situation underscores the importance of strong measures and caution in every areas of official operations, including vehicle use to communication habits.
