The Pentagon has added prominent Chinese businesses including e-commerce giant Alibaba, electric car maker BYD, and search engine Baidu to its list of Chinese military companies. This would mean the companies would be prevented from getting U.S. defense contracts.
The list, which was updated and published on Monday by the Pentagon, now sanctions well-known non-state-owned Chinese companies that are not traditionally considered to be in the defense or security sector. It was created in 2021 and seeks to identify companies the Pentagon thinks has links to the Chinese military.
The Pentagon said while updating the list last year the Chinese military sought to acquire advanced technologies and expertise developed by Chinese companies, universities and research programs that “appear to be civilian entities.”
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The Chinese Embassy on Monday accused the U.S. of “overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies.” It said Chinese companies observe the laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. “The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies,” the embassy said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the companies said there was no basis for their inclusion in the list. “Alibaba is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy,” the e-commerce company said. Baidu added that the suggestion that it is a military company is “entirely baseless.”
BYD said in a statement it is “not a military enterprise” and that the determination “seriously contradicts the facts.” The EV maker also said it “will actively safeguard its legitimate rights and interests through all feasible administrative and legal means.”
Other companies added to the list include the biotech firm WuXi AppTec, the AI-driven robotics company RoboSense Technology Co Ltd., and Unitree, a leading Chinese maker of humanoid and quadruped robots. There are now 188 Chinese companies on the list, up from 130 in the previous list.
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After the Pentagon released the updated list, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party called it “a warning to American businesses, all levels of government, and the American people.” The federal government noted that the companies on the list traded publicly on U.S. exchanges should be delisted and no American company should do business with those on the list, “otherwise they are enabling China’s military ascendance.”
The Pentagon claimed that Alibaba helps boost China’s defense industrial base because it is affiliated with the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The statement also said that BYD and Baidu are affiliated with the same ministry, which oversees China’s technology and industrial policies despite BYD being a dominant player in the global EV market.
According to AP, President Donald Trump had said in January that he would welcome Chinese carmakers such as BYD if they built plants in the U.S. and hired American workers. However, a number of U.S. lawmakers have said they will seek a ban on Chinese electric vehicles.