New Delhi: The US government has accused a Chinese tech firm, Alibaba, of supplying technological support to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the event of any attack on the United States territory, a story in the Financial Times reported. The assertions are based on the contents of declassified top-secret intelligence contained in a national security memo that the administration had been providing to the lawmakers. The document also supposedly details the use of Alibaba technology in a manner that Washington feels is potentially dangerous to the security of the U.S.
The report failed to specify what the specific tools, capabilities or military activities involved are. Neither does it express the intention of the U.S. to act upon any tangible response actions. The investors were immediately worried as Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares dropped by more than 4.6% following the publication.
Alibaba denies allegations
Alibaba has fiercely protested the charges, labelling the allegations as absolutely false. The company claimed that the report was founded on speculative leaks that could not be checked and indicated that the report was part of an ill-motivated PR campaign to derail the recent trade agreement between President Trump and China. It overruled the charges on these grounds as being of political motive and unfounded.
The Chinese diplomatic office in Washington did not provide the reaction to the report. It was reported in the Financial Times that it was unable to confirm independently the intelligence leaked, and it cast doubt on the assertions being made in Washington. This scenario is likely to attract more attention since U.S.–China conflicts in terms of technology and national security get increasingly higher.