FILE – A customer walks in entrance of Alibaba sales space in the course of the third China Worldwide Provide Chain Expo on the China Worldwide Exhibition Heart, in Beijing, China, Friday, July 18, 2025.
Mahesh Kumar A./AP
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Mahesh Kumar A./AP
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has added a number of distinguished Chinese language companies, together with the tech large Alibaba, electrical automobile maker BYD and search engine Baidu, to its checklist of Chinese language army firms, stopping them from getting U.S. protection contracts.
The checklist, up to date and revealed Monday by the Pentagon, now sanctions well-known, non-state-owned Chinese language firms that aren’t historically thought-about to be within the protection or safety sector. It displays rising wariness of Beijing’s technique of tapping the energy of non-state companies for army functions.
Created in 2021 by a congressional mandate, the checklist seeks to establish Chinese language firms that the Pentagon considers to have hyperlinks to the Chinese language army — not solely these immediately managed by the Chinese language army and safety forces but additionally these contributing to the nation’s protection industrial base.
When updating the checklist final 12 months, the Pentagon stated the Chinese language army sought to amass superior applied sciences and experience developed by Chinese language firms, universities and analysis packages that “appear to be civilian entities.”
The Chinese language Embassy on Monday accused the U.S. of “overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies.” It stated Chinese language firms observe the legal guidelines and laws of the nations the place they do enterprise. “The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies,” the embassy stated in an announcement.
Alibaba and Baidu stated there is no such thing as a foundation for together with them on the checklist. “Alibaba is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy,” an announcement from the main e-commerce firm stated. Baidu, which has expanded into synthetic intelligence and self-driving taxis, stated the suggestion that it’s a army firm is “entirely baseless.”
This 12 months’s checklist has grown to 188 Chinese language entities, up from final 12 months’s roughly 130 named by the Pentagon. It already had lined firms akin to DJI, a serious maker of shopper drones. Whereas an organization on the checklist can nonetheless do enterprise within the U.S., it faces reputational harm and may very well be topic to extra restrictions.
After the Pentagon launched the up to date checklist, the Home Choose Committee on the Chinese language Communist Occasion referred to as it “a warning to American businesses, all levels of government, and the American people.” It stated the businesses on the checklist which can be traded publicly on U.S. exchanges needs to be delisted and no American firm ought to do enterprise with these on the checklist, “otherwise they are enabling China’s military ascendance.”
In naming Alibaba, the Pentagon stated the tech large helps enhance China’s protection industrial base as a result of it’s affiliated with the nation’s Ministry of Trade and Info Know-how. Alibaba is traded on the New York Inventory Change.
The Pentagon stated BYD and Baidu are affiliated with the identical ministry, which oversees China’s know-how and industrial insurance policies. BYD is dominant within the international electrical automobile market, and President Donald Trump stated in January that he would welcome Chinese language carmakers akin to BYD in the event that they constructed vegetation within the U.S. and employed American staff.
FILE – Fashions stand subsequent to a modern EV automobile from Chinese language automaker BYD showcased on the Auto China 2026, in Beijing, April 25, 2026.
Andy Wong/AP
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Andy Wong/AP
Nevertheless, various U.S. lawmakers have stated they’ll search a ban on Chinese language electrical automobiles.
One other addition is the Chinese language robotics firm Unitree, whose dancing robots impressed Simon Cowell on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” The Pentagon stated the corporate “knowingly received assistance” from the Chinese language authorities via its designation as a small or medium-sized firm that’s extremely modern, extremely aggressive globally and demanding to the nation’s provide chain.
BYD and Unitree didn’t instantly reply to emails searching for remark.
