Alibaba under Belgian probe

Belgium's intelligence service has been monitoring the main logistics hub of China's Alibaba (9988) in Europe over concern about possible espionage, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

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

Belgian authorities are looking into Alibaba's operations at the airport based on an analysis of China's legal framework.

They say the presence of Alibaba "still constitutes a point of attention" due to legislation which obligates Chinese firms to share data with Chinese authorities and intelligence services.

"China has the intent and capacity to use this data for non-commercial purposes," the agency said.

The Financial Times reported that Alibaba denied any wrongdoing.

Alibaba signed an agreement with the Belgium government in 2018 to open an e-commerce trade hub, run by its logistics arm Cainiao, that would include investment in logistics infrastructure. The Chinese e-commerce giant last month filed to list Cainiao on the Hong Kong stock exchange, which would make the unit the first to be separated ever since Alibaba said in March it would restructure and split its business into six units.