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An defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the potential threats posed by Chinese-made cars, while staff have been told to avoid talking about secret information in all vehicles.

Safety Advice for MoD Staff

During a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD officials have been told not to talk about secret material while travelling in Chinese vehicles.

The minister stated that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that security is a issue in every modern cars.

We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles represent a very small number.

However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their car, not to have conversations at a classified level in any vehicle, because of the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. This is a prudent and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about security.

After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using every cars from China, Pollard replied: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”

Wider Security Background

This revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable China to switch off public transport and cause disruption to transport systems.

Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.

The broader security situation underscores the significance of robust protocols and vigilance in all aspects of official activities, including transport usage to communication practices.