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A defense minister has revealed that the MoD is currently looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese vehicles, while staff have been told to avoid discussing classified matters in any vehicles.

Safety Guidance for Defence Staff

During a recently aired interview on a radio station, Luke Pollard addressed claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss classified information while travelling in China-made vehicles.

The minister stated that the ministry is “examining” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, but noted that safety is a issue in every contemporary vehicles.

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

But regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a car from another country, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to only have those secret talks in protected areas. This is 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 every Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: That is precisely what we’re investigating at the moment.”

Wider Security Context

This revelation comes as reports from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese electric buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring disruption to public transit.

Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining lasers at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.

This wider security environment underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in all areas of government activities, from transport use to discussions practices.