A defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential security risks associated with Chinese cars, while staff have been instructed to avoid talking about secret matters in all cars.
Safety Guidance for Defence Staff
During a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on claims that MoD officials have been told not to discuss secret information while travelling in Chinese cars.
He said that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, but stressed that security is a concern in all modern vehicles.
Our department has a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
But regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified classification in any car, due to the increasing risks of surveillance that exist in every single automobile, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”
Wider Security Background
This revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring chaos to transport systems.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.
This broader defence situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in all aspects of government activities, from transport use to discussions practices.
