The Pentagon on Monday added Alibaba, BYD and Baidu to its list of Chinese military companies, an update the department said prevents those firms from securing U.S. defense contracts.
The list was created in 2021 by a congressional mandate and has grown to 188 entities, up from roughly 130 named by the Pentagon last year.
The Pentagon said the list seeks to identify Chinese companies it considers to have links to the Chinese military, including non-state-owned firms that contribute to the country's defense industrial base, and noted that the Chinese military has sought to acquire advanced technologies and expertise developed by entities that "appear to be civilian entities."
The list was posted as Section 1260H on the Federal Register on Monday and is intended to alert American organizations to the risks of doing business with flagged firms, though inclusion does not mean they are immediately sanctioned.
The Pentagon said Alibaba helps boost China's defense industrial base because it is affiliated with the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and that BYD and Baidu are affiliated with the same ministry.
Alibaba said, "Alibaba is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy," and Baidu said the suggestion that it is a military company is "entirely baseless." BYD said it is "not a military enterprise" and that the determination "seriously contradicts the facts," and it said it "will actively safeguard its legitimate rights and interests through all feasible administrative and legal means," the company said.
The Chinese Embassy called the U.S. move an example of "overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies," and said Chinese companies "observe the laws and regulations of the countries where they do business" and that "The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies."
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party called the updated list "a warning to American businesses, all levels of government, and the American people," and said companies on the list that are traded publicly on U.S. exchanges should be delisted and that "no American company should do business with those on the list."
The Pentagon also added the Chinese robotics company Unitree, saying the company "knowingly received assistance" from the Chinese government through its designation as a small or medium-sized company that is highly innovative, highly competitive globally and critical to the country's supply chain; Unitree's dancing robots previously "impressed Simon Cowell" on NBC's "America's Got Talent." Unitree did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Pentagon's update noted that while a company on the list can still do business in the U.S., it faces reputational damage and could be subject to more restrictions. Alibaba is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and BYD is described as dominant in the global electric vehicle market. A number of U.S. lawmakers have said they will seek a ban on Chinese electric vehicles, and President Trump said in January he would welcome Chinese carmakers such as BYD if they built plants in the U.S. and hired American workers.