A defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible threats posed by Chinese vehicles, while staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about secret matters in any cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Staff
During a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss secret material while riding in Chinese vehicles.
He said that the ministry is “examining” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a issue in all modern cars.
We have a collection of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and those vehicles represent a very small number.
But regardless of if you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence technology into their car, not to have discussions at a secret classification in any car, due to the increasing risks of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone worried about safety.
After it was put to him that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Defence Background
This revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made electric buses, which could enable China to disable buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.
This wider security environment highlights the significance of robust measures and caution in all areas of official activities, from transport use to communication habits.
