Belgian security services say they are monitoring a major Alibaba logistics hub in Europe amid concerns that China could exploit its growing economic presence in the West to conduct illicit activities.
The move is part of a broader review of the EU’s openness to trade with Beijing, as governments across the region increasingly scrutinize the security and economic risks posed by Chinese companies.
Alibaba’s logistics arm, which has been monitored, has an office at the cargo airport in Liege, Belgium. The center was established based on an agreement signed between the Chinese tech giant and the Belgian government in 2018. Liege is also the fifth largest airport in Europe.
Nearly two years after the center opened, the Belgian State Security Agency (VSSE) continues to monitor Alibaba's operations, paying particular attention to software systems that collate sensitive economic information, FT sources said.
Authorities said Alibaba’s presence “is a point of interest for VSSE,” due to laws that force mainland companies to share their data with the Chinese government, and that “data can be used for non-commercial purposes.”
Vincent Van Quickenborne, Belgium’s justice minister, told the FT that the deal with Alibaba was outdated and that “the days of naivety are over.” In July 2023, the European country introduced new laws to screen foreign investments in critical infrastructure.
The hub is an industrial complex of warehouses with access to the runway. Workers unload cargo from planes and take it directly to a 30,000-square-meter hangar for sorting and shipping. Cainiao is seeking permits to triple its warehouse space to 100,000 square meters.
Sensitive data
According to the FT, the security risk relates to software that Cainiao is using to streamline logistics procedures, part of the “world e-commerce platform” (EWTP) developed by Alibaba.
“The main concern with this platform, along with some of the other logistics platforms that China is proposing to European countries, is that it gives them a lot of insight into the supply chain, as well as vulnerabilities that can be exploited,” said Jonathan Holslag, a professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
For example, the logistics hub could pass on data on local sentiment, or collect data on European trade and logistics for third parties to exploit. In fact, Cainiao could access data on sellers, products, details and shipping flows.
“The significant changes in consumption patterns and logistics chain data are very valuable to China as they try to dominate the global supply chain,” Holslag said.
Cainiao said data from the Liège logistics center is stored on servers located in Germany, operated by Alibaba Cloud.
The Belgian government had hoped that Alibaba could help narrow the trade gap with China and boost the economy as a whole. But according to data from the National Bank of Belgium, the country's trade deficit has increased from €3.7 billion in 2021 to €9.1 billion in 2022. According to Cainiao, only a fifth of the goods that pass through the warehouse are exported back to China.
Customs data shows that some 326 million packages weighing 1.1 million tonnes were handled at Liège airport last year, which serves as a sorting hub for purchases made across Europe. Cainiao said less than half of those parcels were handled at its warehouses, but did not disclose exact figures.
(According to FT)
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