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| Alibaba Group Logo |
WASHINGTON —
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's sponsorship of U.S. online news media has sparked concern among Americans. Not only that, in the past few years, Alibaba has spent huge sums of money lobbying the US Congress and various government departments, including the White House, on issues such as US-China trade, finance, and technology. Public records show that Alibaba spends millions of dollars a year on political lobbying and hires a large number of lobbyists with experience in the federal government, including former members of Congress and White House staff.
On January 30, Bill Bishop, an expert on China affairs, suddenly discovered that a newsletter (Newsletter) of Semafor, a newly established online news media last year, read the headline Big "Backed by Alibaba" words. Not long ago, another online news media, Axios, published a newsletter that was sponsored by Alibaba in the headline.
"Axios, Semafor...Alibaba is sponsoring key news briefings in Washington. It makes sense, Li Mingzhang tweeted. "China is back, guy, didn't you hear?" said someone below. someone else said: "At least, it's transparent."
In fact, this is not the first time that Alibaba has tried to expand its popularity through influential new media in Washington. According to the conservative media Daily Caller, Alibaba has also sponsored Washington political news media such as Capitol Hill (The Hill), Punchbowl News, and Politico in the past few years. These media outlets are quite influential in the decision-making circle in Washington.
On January 31, Alibaba sponsored another event held by Semafor. The event invited two members of Congress to discuss e-commerce and the future of the US economy. Before the discussion began, Eric Pelletier, Alibaba's director of international government affairs, took the stage to speak first, pointing out Alibaba's convenience for small businesses in US export trade and its contribution to the US economy.
Alibaba, whether it is a little or medium-sized business or a multinational corporation, he claimed, "helps American companies sell their products to consumers in other areas of the world every day."
Premier is not only Alibaba's director of international government affairs but is also one of its important political lobbyists. Public records show Pretier donated $500 in campaign funds to Rep. Darin LaHood, who was invited to the Semafor event, during the 2022 midterm elections.
"When you have an event like this and you don't disclose the campaign finance ties or any other financial ties behind it, it's very problematic," said the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, which studies political lobbying and foreign influence. "Because viewers of these events think they're seeing objective commentary from a guest speaker, there's no way of knowing whether the commentary is objective or not," Ben Freeman, a researcher at the Institute, told VOA.
Both Semafor and Axios, in response to VOA's inquiries, said the sponsorship had not affected their journalistic independence.
A Semafor spokesperson wrote in an email: "Advertisers do not influence our editorial coverage, news, and third-party advertisers are strictly separated."
Axios also replied: "As with any serious, trustworthy news As with sources, advertisers do not provide input or intervene in what Axios reports."
Chinese authorities' grip on Alibaba raises concerns
Still, Chinese authorities' tightening oversight of Alibaba in recent years has raised concerns about its operational independence.
Alibaba is not a Chinese state-owned company, but on Jan. 4 an entity under the State Cyberspace Administration of China bought a stake in an Alibaba subsidiary and stationed an official there.
Last September, a subsidiary of the Chinese state-backed Zhejiang Radio and Television Group bought a minority stake in Alibaba's Youku Films and Television. Zhejiang Radio and Television Group subsequently sent an official to Youku's board of directors.
In addition, Alibaba has been accused of developing facial recognition tools for Uyghurs. Alibaba declined to answer a series of questions from VOA.
Spending millions of dollars a year lobbying the U.S. government
Not only that, in the past few years, Alibaba has spent huge sums of money lobbying and making political donations to the U.S. Congress and various government departments on issues such as U.S.-China trade, finance, and technology.
Since 2011, the amount Alibaba spends lobbying in U.S. politics has risen steadily. In 2019, Alibaba launched a platform dedicated to U.S. companies, hoping to further expand the U.S. market. While this strategy has been far less effective than expected, Alibaba has not reduced its lobbying spending. Between 2020 and 2021, Alibaba spent more than $3 million a year on lobbying.
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| Alibaba's annual investment in US political lobbying (chart from Opensecrets.org) |
Trade is the issue Alibaba spends the most on lobbyists, according to OpenSecrets, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that tracks campaign finance and lobbying data. In 2022, of the 39 issues Alibaba is lobbying for, 10 are trade-related. In second place are copyright, patents, and trademarks. Eight issues are relevant to it.
According to public information, Alibaba, through Mercury, one of its lobbying firms, and the White House have repeatedly discussed “technology policy issues, access to the U.S. capital market, issues related to e-commerce, and export promotion for small and medium-sized enterprises” several times last year. "There was lobbying work done.
According to Open Secrets, each campaign year, Alibaba makes donations to a large number of candidates through hired lobbyists. During the 2014 midterm elections, lobbyists hired by Alibaba donated $4,300 each to three Republican congressional candidates. But since then, Alibaba has generally favored the Democratic Party in donations.
During the 2020 general election, Alibaba invested more than $1.2 million in political donations. The then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden received a donation of $14,000, and most of the other recipients were Democrats.
Alibaba lobbyists donated $130,000 to a Democratic committee, the DNC Service Crop, during the 2022 midterm elections. The candidate who received the most donations, though, was former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney.
Hire former U.S. officials and members of Congress.
As of the end of 2022, among the 30 professional lobbyists lobbying for Alibaba, 19 have worked in the U.S. federal government and Congress, and 4 of them have served as federal congressmen.
The three "Mercury" lobbyists working for Alibaba have all held high government positions. David Vitter served as a Senator in Congress from 2005 to 2017. Toby Moffett served in Congress from 1975 to 1983. Bryan Lanza served as communications director for former President Trump's transition team from 2016 to 2017.
In addition to former members of Congress, many consultants and assistants who have worked for members of Congress are also helping Alibaba with its lobbying. Brian McGuire, a speechwriter and former chief of staff to current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is one of them.
In terms of the executive branch, Alibaba lobbyists have worked in the Department of Justice, Treasury, Office of the Trade Representative, and the Federal Communications Commission. Alibaba's director of international government affairs, Eric Pelletier, was formerly President George W. Bush's deputy assistant for legislative affairs. Brian Wild, a deputy assistant to former Vice President Cheney, was also hired by Alibaba.
It is not uncommon in the United States for companies to hire former government officials for political lobbying. This phenomenon is known as a "revolving door," in which government officials leave public office and join lobbying firms, only to re-enter government when the government changes. The "revolving door" has been a controversial issue in the United States, and the lobbying efforts of foreign companies such as Alibaba on American politics, especially the hiring of former lawmakers, have raised some concerns about foreign influence and national security.
"When we're talking about a 'revolving door' like this, we're really talking about national security issues or at least the possibility of national security issues," said Freeman of the Quincy Institute for National Affairs. One point that should give people something to think about, especially when they hear that a former member of Congress is working on behalf of a foreign company, and we know that foreign governments, particularly the Chinese Communist Party, have partial ownership of the company.”
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