Belgium’s intelligence service monitors Alibaba hub in Europe over ‘espionage’ concerns: FT

BELGIUM’S intelligence service has been monitoring Alibaba Group Holding’s main logistics hub in Europe over concerns of potential espionage, the Financial Times (FT) said on Thursday (Oct 5).

Referring to the company’s logistics arm at the cargo airport in the city of Liege, the security service said they were working to detect “possible espionage or interference activities” by Chinese entities including Alibaba, the FT said.

Alibaba signed an agreement with the Belgium government in 2018 to launch an e-commerce trade hub – run by its logistics arm Cainiao – that would include investments in logistics infrastructure.

The Belgian State Security Service (VSSE) told FT the presence of Alibaba “constitutes a point of attention for the VSSE” because of legislation forcing Chinese companies to share their data with Chinese authorities and intelligence services.

Alibaba denies any wrongdoing, the report added. Alibaba and VSSE did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. REUTERS