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A defense minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is currently examining the possible security risks posed by Chinese-made cars, and personnel have been instructed to refrain from discussing secret information in any vehicles.

Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel

In a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that MoD officials have been told not to discuss secret material while travelling in China-made vehicles.

He stated that the MoD is “investigating” cars from China within its fleets, but emphasised that security is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.

Our department has a collection of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a very small number.

But whether you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting Ministry of Defence devices into their vehicle, not to have conversations at a secret classification in any car, because of the growing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all automobile, to only have those confidential talks in secure locations. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone worried about safety.

After it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to stop using all cars from China, the minister replied: That is exactly what we are looking into at the present time.”

Wider Security Background

This announcement comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow China to disable buses and bring chaos to public transit.

Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been shining laser beams at RAF aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” act by defence officials.

The wider security situation highlights the importance of robust measures and caution in all aspects of official operations, including transport use to communication habits.