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A defence minister has stated that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential threats posed by Chinese-made cars, and staff have been told to refrain from discussing classified matters in any cars.

Security Advice for MoD Staff

In a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in China-made vehicles.

The minister stated that the ministry is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however noted that security is a issue in all modern cars.

We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a tiny fraction.

However whether you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, what we’ve asked our staff is not to plug MoD devices into their car, not to have conversations at a classified level in any kind of car, because of the increasing threats of eavesdropping that exist in all vehicle, to restrict those secret talks in protected areas. That’s a wise and reasonable thing for anyone concerned about safety.

When it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using all Chinese vehicles, the minister responded: That is precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”

Broader Defence Context

This revelation follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of multi-purpose shutdown mechanisms in Chinese electric buses, which could allow the Chinese government to switch off buses and bring chaos to public transit.

Furthermore, a Russian intelligence vessel was reportedly directing lasers at RAF pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by defence officials.

The wider security situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in all areas of government activities, including transport use to discussions practices.