Some 14 members of the European Parliament on Wednesday asked the European Commission to assess whether cars from China’s BYD pose a security threat, after the US military banned them from Kadena Air Base in Japan’s Okinawa last month.

The US said at the time that the vehicles represented an “unacceptable” and “unmitigatable risk”.

In written questions, the MEPs asked for the EU’s cyber-security agency to assess the level of threat by BYD and potentially include it on a list of high-risk suppliers for public procurements.

French MEP François Kalfon in the questions that China’s 2017 national intelligence law requires companies to cooperate with the Chinese government.

“Allowing connected vehicles from third countries to access sensitive European infrastructure therefore poses an unacceptable security risk,” Kalfon wrote.

He said that unspecified measures had been taken by Poland, the UK and Israel and that Norwegian soldiers found rented vehicles from an unnamed Chinese manufacturer filmed them and their access codes to military bases during a security exercise.

Market expansion

BYD, the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker, said BYD Europe doesn’t make data available to BYD entities or third-parties in China.

The company said last month it plans to build more factories in Europe to drive market share in the region.