Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba lavishing money on US lobbying, Democrat campaigns

Just The News ^ | February 19, 2023 | John Mac Ghlionn

[Twotone]

In 2020, Foreign Policy published a report describing the many ways in which Chinese tech companies were helping China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) to process stolen data — much of it stolen from U.S. citizens: China has, to date, stolen the data of 80% of Americans.

One of the companies mentioned in the extensive report was Alibaba, the e-commerce giant headquartered in the ancient Chinese city of Hangzhou. Answerable ultimately to the Chinese Communist Party, the multinational retail and tech colossus was recently accused of conducting espionage for the CCP by a Belgian minister.

Alibaba isn't just processing stolen data for Beijing; it is also aggressively lobbying in the United States. Last year, representatives from Alibaba spent more than $2.5 million on U.S. lobbying efforts, according to a recent report by OpenSecrets, a research organization tracking money in politics.

"Since the 2014 midterm elections, Alibaba has generally skewed toward the Democratic Party," according to a recent report by the Voice of America (VOA). During the 2020 election, notes VOA, the majority of recipients of Alibaba's political donations, which totaled more than $1.2 million, were Democrats. Last year, the Democratic National Committee alone raked in over $135,000 in donations from individuals associated with the company.

The leading individual recipient of Alibaba campaign cash was a disaffected Republican, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost her reelection bid last year in a landslide GOP primary defeat to conservative challenger Harriet Hagemen.

[Vaduz]

Communists helping Communists nothing new the Fabian Society is a large one.

[vikingd00d]

I can remember a time in the log-forgotten past when it was illegal to accept campaign donations from foreign nationals...