Alibaba slams FT report on alleged PLA ties as ‘completely false’, ‘malicious’

Alibaba Group Holding’s logo is seen at the company offices in Shanghai. Photo: EPA-EFE

The report said Alibaba was supplying the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with unspecified capabilities that the White House claimed would threaten US national security, citing a memo that included declassified top-secret intelligence.

“The assertions and innuendos in the article are completely false,” an Alibaba spokesman said on Saturday. “We question the motivation behind the anonymous leak, which the FT admits that they cannot verify.”

“This malicious PR operation clearly came from a rogue voice looking to undermine President Trump’s recent trade deal with China,” the spokesman added.

Hangzhou -based Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The report – published early Saturday morning, Hong Kong time – cited a White House memo that claimed Alibaba provided the Chinese government and the PLA with access to customer data, including internet protocol addresses, Wi-fi information, payment records and artificial intelligence services.

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