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A defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the possible threats associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been told to avoid discussing classified information in any cars.

Security Guidance for MoD Staff

During a recent appearance on LBC, Luke Pollard commented on claims that MoD staff have been instructed not to talk about secret information while travelling in Chinese vehicles.

The minister said that the MoD is “looking into” Chinese vehicles within its vehicle pools, however emphasised that safety is a issue in all modern vehicles.

We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles represent a tiny fraction.

But whether you’re driving a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any kind of car, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to only have those confidential talks in protected areas. That’s a prudent and reasonable thing for everyone concerned about safety.

When it was suggested that it would be prudent for the ministry to cease using every Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”

Wider Defence Context

This revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the UK to the presence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese buses, which could allow China to switch off buses and bring chaos to public transit.

Furthermore, a Russian spy ship was reportedly shining laser beams at Royal Air Force pilots, labeled a “highly dangerous” action by government representatives.

The wider defence situation underscores the importance of robust measures and caution in every areas of government activities, from transport usage to communication habits.