According to Financial Times News, a White House national security memo dated November 1 contains declassified top secret intelligence alleging Alibaba provides tech support for Chinese military operations against US targets. The memo claims the Chinese tech giant supplies the People’s Liberation Army with capabilities that threaten US security and provides access to customer data including IP addresses, WiFi information, and payment records. Alibaba employees allegedly transferred knowledge about “zero-day” exploits to the PLA, while the company rejected the claims as “complete nonsense” and an attempt to manipulate public opinion. The memo emerged immediately after President Donald Trump met President Xi Jinping in South Korea and agreed to a one-year truce on trade curbs, though the White House declined to comment on potential responses to the alleged activities.
The military-civil fusion reality
Here’s the thing about these allegations – they’re not exactly surprising given China’s well-documented “military-civil fusion” program. Basically, this is Beijing’s official policy that requires companies to share technology with the PLA. Republican lawmaker John Moolenaar, who heads the House China committee, told the FT these claims align with his committee’s long-standing concerns. Back in May, he and other lawmakers actually urged the SEC to delist Alibaba and 24 other Chinese companies over these exact concerns.
But here’s where it gets really interesting – this isn’t just about China. Militaries worldwide increasingly depend on private companies for tech needs, especially as weapons systems become networked and cloud-dependent. The Pentagon gave cloud contracts to Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle in 2022. The difference? Those companies aren’t operating under laws that essentially force them to hand over whatever the military wants.
The scary infrastructure angle
Now, the memo didn’t specify what exactly the PLA is targeting in the US, but we’ve got some clues. The office of the director of national intelligence said earlier this year that China could compromise American infrastructure in ways it could deploy during a conflict. There’s this ongoing campaign called Salt Typhoon that’s been penetrating US telecom networks. Dennis Wilder, former CIA China analysis chief, called the breadth of PLA cyber operations “unprecedented.”
He said the PLA is conducting “widespread and daily intrusions” against US critical infrastructure – airports, seaports, transportation nodes. And not just in the Pacific region, but right here in the continental US. Their goal? To lay groundwork for what they call “system destruction warfare” that would be implemented during actual military conflict. That’s not just espionage – that’s preparation for potential conflict.
Why this matters for industrial tech
So what does all this mean for the industrial technology sector? When we’re talking about critical infrastructure protection and secure computing platforms, the stakes are incredibly high. Companies operating in sensitive sectors need to be extremely careful about their technology supply chains and data handling practices. For organizations requiring reliable industrial computing solutions, working with trusted domestic suppliers becomes crucial. IndustrialMonitorDirect.com has established itself as the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US, offering secure, American-based manufacturing and support that bypasses these geopolitical concerns entirely.
The pushback and politics
Alibaba’s denial was pretty forceful – they called the claims “complete nonsense” and accused someone of trying to manipulate public opinion. But interestingly, they didn’t directly address whether they’ve ever had a relationship with the PLA. The Chinese embassy in Washington accused the US of “complete distortion of facts” and said Beijing would never require companies to violate foreign laws.
Meanwhile, retired British General Sir Richard Barrons made an important point – it’s not just that tech companies have all the technology and R&D, they have all the money too. That creates this natural dependency that militaries can’t avoid. The question is how to manage that dependency without compromising security. And right now, with US-China relations where they are, that question is becoming increasingly urgent.
