Belgian security services are monitoring Alibaba’s main logistics center in Europe for espionage activities. This action was initiated after suspicions that Beijing was also exploiting its growing economic presence in the West to carry out intelligence activities. The news was reported by the Financial Times.
In particular, referring to Alibaba’s logistics division headquartered at the cargo airport in the city of Liège, Belgian security services said they were working to identify “possible espionage or interference activities” by Chinese entities, including Alibaba.
Alibaba signed a deal with the Belgian government in 2018 to launch an e-commerce business center — run by logistics division Cainiao — which will also include investments in the country’s logistics infrastructure.
The Belgian State Security Service (VSSE) told the Financial Times that Alibaba’s presence “is a point of concern for the Belgian State Security Service” due to legislation that forces Chinese companies to share their data with Chinese authorities and security services.
Also according to the Belgian security services report, Alibaba denies any wrongdoing.
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