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A defence minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence is actively looking into the potential threats associated with Chinese cars, and staff have been instructed to refrain from talking about secret information in any cars.

Security Advice for Defence Personnel

In a recently aired appearance on a radio station, a defence minister addressed claims that Ministry of Defence officials have been instructed not to discuss secret material while riding in China-made cars.

The minister said that the MoD is “looking into” cars from China within its vehicle pools, but stressed that safety is a concern in every contemporary vehicles.

Our department has a fleet of tens of thousands of cars in the Ministry of Defence and those vehicles account for a very small number.

But 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 car, not to have conversations at a secret level in any vehicle, because of the increasing risks of eavesdropping that are present in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential talks in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for everyone worried about security.

After it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to cease using all cars from China, the minister responded: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”

Wider Defence Background

This revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese-made buses, which could allow the Chinese government to disable public transport and cause chaos to transport systems.

Furthermore, a Russian spy ship has been shining lasers at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “highly dangerous” act by government representatives.

The broader defence environment underscores the significance of strong measures and vigilance in all areas of government activities, including transport use to discussions habits.