The US government has put China’s biggest ecommerce platform back on its blacklist of “notorious markets” known for peddling fake goods, a decision Alibaba argues may have been politically motivated.

美国政府再度把中国最大电商平台列入其“恶名市场”黑名单，这类市场以兜售假货而闻名。阿里巴巴(Alibaba)辩称，美国政府这一决定背后或许存在政治动机。

Taobao, an online marketplace owned by Alibaba, managed to get off the list four years ago after clamping down on counterfeiters, but on Wednesday was put back on this year’s list.

四年前，阿里巴巴旗下在线集市淘宝网(Taobao)在对假货展开打击后，被撤下了该黑名单。但在本周三，淘宝再度被列入了该黑名单。

“While recent steps set positive expectations for the future, current levels of reported counterfeiting and piracy are unacceptably high,” said the US Office of the Trade Representative, which compiles the Review of Notorious Markets.

“尽管近来的措施令人对未来产生积极的期待，但目前报告的造假和盗版水平高得难以接受，”美国贸易代表办公室(Office of the US Trade Representative)称。该机构负责编制《恶名市场审查报告》(Review of Notorious Markets)。

Alibaba said it was “very disappointed” by the decision, which it claims may have been politically motivated in an environment of rising tensions between Beijing and the US.

阿里巴巴表示，它对这一决定感到“非常失望”。该公司声称，在中美之间紧张关系加剧的背景下，这一决定背后或许存在政治动机。

“The fact that the decision ignores the real work Alibaba has done to fight counterfeit makes us question whether the USTR decision was swayed by the current political climate,” said Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group.

“这一决定无视阿里巴巴为打击造假而开展的实际行动，令我们怀疑美国贸易代表办公室的决定是否受到当前政治气候的影响，”阿里巴巴集团总裁迈克.埃文斯(Mike Evans)说。

Alibaba has been in conflict with international business groups over the long-running problem of counterfeit goods sold by Taobao’s 10m merchants. Last year the American Apparel & Footwear Association said it was “frustrated” by the company’s lack of progress in handling counterfeiters.

由于淘宝1000万商家出售假货的问题长期存在，阿里巴巴与国际商业集团之间一直冲突不断。去年，美国服装和鞋类协会(American Apparel & Footwear Association)表示，它对阿里巴巴在处置造假者方面缺乏进展感到“失望”。

Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, boasted earlier this year that fakes were often "better quality and better price than the real names” — drawing criticism from goods makers for seeming complacent about Alibaba’s record on fakes.

今年早些时候，阿里巴巴创始人马云(Jack Ma)夸口称，许多假冒商品“比真品质量更好，价格更优惠”。这一言论遭到产品制造商的批评，称马云似乎对阿里巴巴的售假记录不以为意。

Alibaba, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, claims it is making more progress than ever, saying that in 2016 it has removed more than twice the number of infringing product listings than last year.

2014年在纽约证交所(NYSE)上市的阿里巴巴声称，它取得了比以往任何时候都要大的进展。它还表示，2016年其下架的侵权产品数量是去年的两倍多。

“It is therefore unreasonable for the USTR to have concluded that Alibaba is less effective in anti-counterfeiting than when it reviewed our efforts in 2015 and when it removed us from its list four years ago,” said Mr Evans.

“因此，美国贸易代表办公室断定阿里巴巴现在在打假方面不如2015年其审查我们的努力时有效，不如四年前其将我们从名单上移除时有效，是不讲道理的，”埃文斯说。

Taobao has over 1bn goods available for sale at any given time. As with US-based eBay, it is easy for small merchants and individuals to set up their own sites on the platform.

在任一给定时点，淘宝上的在售商品都超过10亿件。与总部位于美国的eBay一样，小商家和个人很容易在淘宝上建立自己的店铺。

“It’s not ideal, but I don’t think most Chinese users really care whether the US puts Taobao on its list or not,” said Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, a tech consultancy in Beijing. “It’s an issue more for investors . . . and whether it leads brand owners to take action.”

“虽然它不完美，但我不认为大多数中国用户真的在乎美国是否把淘宝列入其名单。”北京科技咨询公司迈博瑞咨询(Marbridge Consulting)董事总经理马克.纳特金(Mark Natkin)说，“这更多地是一个投资者要应对的问题……更多地是一个是否会导致品牌所有者采取行动的问题。”

Mr Natkin added: “One of the great appeals for Chinese users [of Taobao.com] is you can get anything on the platform at very low prices. If you were really good at cleaning up all the shoddy goods, it would have a negative impact on the gross transaction volume.”

纳特金补充说：“（淘宝）对中国用户的一个巨大吸引力在于，你能够在该平台上以很低的价格搞到任何东西。如果真的能在清除所有假货方面做得很出色，将对总成交额产生负面影响。”

Alibaba is also grappling with a wave of fake reviews and order-faking scams that merchants use to inflate their sales and ratings — methods collectively known as “brushing”.

另外，阿里巴巴还在努力应对一系列虚假评论和订单造假骗局——这些被商家用来夸大销量和抬高评级的手段统称为“刷单”。