Is the United States extending its black hand to Chinese enterprises again? British media: US investigates Alibaba Cloud in the name of "national security"

　Is the United States extending its "black hands" to Chinese enterprises again?

British media: US investigates Alibaba Cloud in the name of "national security"

　　[Global Times Report] Is the U.S. government extending its "black hand" to Alibaba Cloud?

Reuters reported on the 18th that the U.S. government is reviewing the cloud storage business of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to determine whether it "poses a risk to U.S. national security."

U.S. regulators may bar Americans from using Alibaba Cloud businesses, the sources said.

The Global Times reporter asked Alibaba about this on the 19th, but the other party said it would not respond.

　　According to Reuters, when former U.S. President Trump was in office, the U.S. Commerce Department expressed concern about Alibaba’s cloud business. After Biden took office, a small “Intelligence and Security Office” of the department launched a formal review of Alibaba Cloud.

The office has broad powers to ban or restrict transactions by U.S. companies with Internet, telecommunications and technology companies in "foreign adversary countries."

The report, citing "three people familiar with the matter," said the investigation focused on how Alibaba Cloud stores data on U.S. customers, including personal information and intellectual property, and "whether the Chinese government may have access to this data."

One of the U.S. government’s concerns, one of the sources said, is “whether the Chinese government can prevent U.S. users from accessing the data they store in the cloud.”

U.S. regulators could ultimately choose to force Alibaba to take steps to reduce the risks posed by its cloud business, or ban Americans from using the service, the report said.

　　The report also said that Alibaba’s cloud business in the U.S. is small, with annual revenue estimated to be less than $50 million, according to research firm Gu Neng Company, but if U.S. regulators ultimately decide to block a deal between the U.S. company and Alibaba Cloud The deal would damage one of Alibaba's most promising businesses and take a toll on the company's reputation.

　　"Deutsche Welle" said on the 19th that, like the Trump era, Biden has imposed more and more restrictions on Chinese companies after he took office.

Prior to this, the United States had repeatedly obstructed Alibaba's business in the United States on the grounds of "national security".

Alibaba raised concerns about its U.S. operations in its most recent annual report.

The report mentioned that U.S. companies that signed contracts with Alibaba "may be prohibited from continuing to do business with us, including fulfilling contractual obligations related to Alibaba Cloud services."

　　The Commerce Department declined to comment on the report.

China has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the US generalization of the concept of national security and unreasonable suppression of specific companies in other countries.