A defence official has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the potential threats associated with Chinese-made cars, and staff have been told to avoid talking about classified information in any vehicles.
Safety Advice for Defence Personnel
In a recent interview on LBC, a defence minister commented on reports that Ministry of Defence staff have been told not to discuss secret material while riding in Chinese cars.
He stated that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a issue in every modern vehicles.
Our department has a fleet of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.
However regardless of if you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, not to have discussions at a secret classification in any kind of vehicle, because of the increasing risks of surveillance that exist in all vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about safety.
When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister responded: That is exactly what we’re investigating at the present time.”
Wider Defence Context
This announcement follows claims from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the presence of dual-use kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring disruption to public transit.
Additionally, a Russia spy ship was reportedly directing lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, described as a “extremely risky” action by defence officials.
This wider defence situation underscores the importance of strong protocols and caution in all areas of official operations, including transport usage to communication habits.
