A Belgian airport's Alibaba logistics center is under security review

Belgian officials are investigating potential threats associated with China's Alibaba Group Holding's presence at a cargo airport in the city of Liege, according to a statement released on Thursday by the nation's intelligence service VSSE.


The security service stated that it was attempting to "detect and fight against possible spying and/or interference activities carried out by Chinese entities including Alibaba" at the company's primary European logistics hub at Liege Airport.


Based on a review of China's legal system, Belgian authorities are investigating Alibaba's activities at the airport, the statement continued.


The VSSE claimed that due to regulations requiring Chinese businesses to share data with Chinese authorities and intelligence agencies, Alibaba's presence "still constitutes a point of attention" for it.


According to The Financial Times, which broke the story first, Alibaba has denied all wrongdoing. Requests for comment from Alibaba did not immediately receive a response.


In 2018, Alibaba and the Belgian government agreed to build an e-commerce trade hub that would involve infrastructure investments in logistics and be managed by its logistics unit Cainiao.


The Chinese e-commerce behemoth submitted a listing application for Cainiao on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last month, marking the first division since Alibaba announced in March that it will reorganize and divide its operations into six entities.