U.S. air base in Japan to block Chinese BYD cars over data fears

Kadena Air Base in Okinawa will bar all vehicles made by Chinese electric carmaker BYD from entering the installation starting Oct. 26 over concerns that the cars could expose sensitive military information, Kangnam Times reported.

The ban covers privately owned cars as well as contractor vehicles, taxis, delivery vans and other commercial vehicles. The 18th Security Forces Squadron, which guards the base’s key facilities, will stop BYD vehicles at every gate and direct them to turn around, and the base does not plan to grant exceptions, according to the report.

Kadena is one of the U.S. Air Force’s largest bases in the Indo-Pacific and home to the 18th Wing, part of Fifth Air Force, which operates fighters, aerial refueling and surveillance aircraft from the island.

The concern centers on how modern electric vehicles work. Many use cameras and sensors to map their surroundings and rely on software and network connections that can send data to outside servers or allow remote access. Information gathered by a car driving through a base could reveal the layout of facilities and patterns of military activity.

A similar problem surfaced last month in Norway, where rental cars used by the Norwegian Armed Forces during Exercise Hovedstad near Oslo Airport from Sept. 14 to 18 recorded soldiers, their movements and the access codes they typed at military gates. At least two of the vehicles were Deepal models built by Chinese state-owned automaker Changan and supplied by Hertz Norge, which is indirectly owned by China’s Geely group, Norwegian business daily Dagens Næringsliv reported.

Other militaries have already restricted Chinese-made cars. Poland has barred Chinese-made vehicles from certain military facilities, citing the risk that onboard sensors and cameras could collect sensitive data, and the Israel Defense Forces has banned Chinese vehicles from its bases.

The U.S. military has tightened rules on Chinese technology at its installations for years. In 2018, the Pentagon ordered base exchanges worldwide to stop selling smartphones made by Huawei and ZTE over security concerns. In June 2026, the U.S. Department of War reportedly added BYD to its list of Chinese military companies operating in the United States, a list that does not by itself ban the use of a company’s products.

BYD has been expanding in Japan, launching models tailored to the Japanese market and opening more dealerships, particularly in regional areas where public transportation is limited.