U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) is pressing Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) to explain its business relationship with Chinese technology giant Alibaba, citing national security concerns after the company was added to the Pentagon’s list of Chinese military companies operating in the United States.
In a June 30 letter, Rep. Moolenaar, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, asked MSE Chairman and CEO Ted Leonsis to provide information about the company’s partnership with Alibaba and to confirm whether the company will end its business ties with the Chinese firm. MSE owns the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the NBA’s Washington Wizards.
The request follows the Pentagon’s decision last month to add Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to its updated list of companies linked to the Chinese military. According to Rep. Moolenaar’s letter, MSE has an ongoing business relationship with Alibaba through sponsorship agreements and the integration of the company’s Alipay payment platform at Capital One Arena, the Washington, D.C., arena where the Capitals and Wizards play.
“The Pentagon recently designated Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as a Chinese military company due to Alibaba’s support to China’s military-civil fusion and its ties to China’s state-owned assets commission and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,” Rep. Moolenaar wrote. “This U.S. government designation is a recognition that Alibaba represents a danger to American security and the stability of the western Pacific.”
Rep. Moolenaar said China’s military-civil fusion strategy is intended to make the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “the world’s leading military,” particularly through the use of advanced computing technologies.
In the letter, he cited Alibaba’s cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) services as an example of the company’s alleged support for China’s military.
“In one example of how Alibaba supports China’s military ambitions, its cloud and AI services enable China’s BeiDou satellite system to provide position, navigation, and timing to the PLA,” he wrote. “Alibaba Cloud partners with a key contractor of BeiDou, and Alibaba has obscured its ownership of that same key contractor.”
Rep. Moolenaar added that the PLA is using the BeiDou satellite system “to prepare for war” and would rely on it in any future conflict, including military action involving Taiwan.
“BeiDou’s satellites will tell PLA systems and soldiers where they are and where to strike. Alibaba Cloud will help them do so,” he wrote.
Rep. Moolenaar asked Leonsis to confirm “that MSE will discontinue or has already discontinued any ongoing business relationship with Alibaba and its affiliates.”
The lawmaker also requested that by July 15, Leonsis provide the committee with information on any agreements by and between MSE or any of its affiliates and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. or any of its affiliates, and sufficient data to show MSE’s current relationship with Alibaba Group Holding, Alipay.com Co Ltd, and any affiliates of either entity.