Chinese giant Alibaba is under investigation for espionage activities in Europe

Alibaba is a Chinese espionage weapon. Belgian security services believe this and are monitoring the main European logistics center of the private multinational company based in Hangzhou. The action was launched over suspicions that Beijing was using its growing economic presence in Western Europe to conduct intelligence activities.

Belgian security services reported Finance TimesThe checking activity is focused on Alibaba’s logistics division, located at the cargo airport in the city of Liège, Europe’s fifth largest city, to identify “possible espionage or interference activities” by Chinese entities, including Alibaba. One area of ​​investigation involves the introduction of software systems that collect sensitive economic information.

The center in Liège is the only European logistics center managed by Cainiao, in which Alibaba has a 63 percent stake. Owned by the e-commerce giant, the company mostly handles products sold directly to European consumers through the online shopping site AliExpress. The Liège logistics center is located in an industrial area where employees load and unload goods from airplanes and transport them directly to the 30,000 square meter hangar to be sorted and shipped. But Cainiao’s goals are big. The company is seeking permission to triple the size of its warehouses to 100,000 square metres.

Alibaba’s presence in Liège is the result of an agreement signed with the Belgian government in 2018 to establish an e-commerce trading hub, which will include investments in logistics infrastructure of 100 million euros. For the Walloon government, Alibaba’s financing was a blessing as it would help recover the region’s struggling economy. But five years later, things changed. In fact, a new law came into force in the European country last July to control foreign investments in critical infrastructures.

The Chinese e-commerce giant denies the accusations, but the Belgian State Security Service (VSSE) believes Alibaba’s presence “creates a point of caution” due to legislation forcing Chinese companies to share their data with Chinese authorities and intelligence services. “China has the intention and ability to use this data for non-commercial purposes,” Belgian security services told the British newspaper.

Source: Today IT

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