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An defence official has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively investigating the possible threats posed by Chinese-made vehicles, while personnel have been instructed to avoid talking about secret information in any vehicles.

Safety Guidance for Defence Personnel

In a recent appearance on LBC, a defence minister addressed claims that MoD officials have been instructed not to talk about secret information while riding in Chinese vehicles.

The minister said that the ministry is “investigating” cars from China within its vehicle pools, however stressed that safety is a concern in every contemporary cars.

We have a fleet of thousands of cars in the MoD and those vehicles account for a tiny fraction.

However whether you’re driving a Chinese car or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our staff is to avoid connecting MoD devices into their car, to avoid having discussions at a classified level in any vehicle, because of the increasing risks of surveillance that are present in all vehicle, to only have those secret conversations in protected areas. That’s a prudent and sensible thing for everyone concerned about security.

After it was put to him that it would be prudent for the MoD to cease using every Chinese vehicles, the minister replied: ‘That’s exactly what we’re investigating at the moment.”

Wider Defence Context

The revelation follows reports from Scandinavian countries have warned the United Kingdom to the existence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could enable China to disable buses and cause disruption to transport systems.

Furthermore, a Russia spy ship has been shining lasers at RAF pilots, labeled a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.

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