Pentagon claims Alibaba, Baidu, other tech firms aiding China's military

WASHINGTON: The United States issued an updated list on Monday of Chinese companies that it believes are aiding the country’s military — including e-commerce giant Alibaba, search engine provider Baidu and electric vehicle maker BYD.

The US Defense Department unveiled the designations just weeks after President Donald Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, with both sides seeking to maintain stability in the bilateral relationship.

Trump has since invited Xi to pay a reciprocal visit to Washington in September.

However, the latest release could fan tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.

The Pentagon update came months after it briefly released — then withdrew — an earlier version of the list without explanation.

The new list is largely similar to the version momentarily published in February, although two memory chipmakers were reinstated to the blacklist after having been removed from it at the time.

The re-added companies are ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies.

“This updated list of Chinese military companies is a warning to American businesses, all levels of government, and the American people,” said Representative John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China.

He urged in a statement for US companies to “stop doing business with these threats to our national security” or risk “enabling China’s military ascendance.”

The companies targeted also cover some of China’s key tech giants involved in artificial intelligence, including Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent. Tencent was already previously designated.

Baidu opposed the list in a statement on Chinese social media, calling the accusations “entirely baseless”.

“We categorically reject the inclusion of Baidu on the list, and there is no credible justification for adding Baidu to the list,” a spokesperson said.

“The suggestion that Baidu is a military company is entirely baseless. We will not hesitate to use all options available to us to have the company removed from the list.”

Alibaba called its inclusion in the list “a mistake”, threatening legal action.

“There is no basis to conclude that Alibaba Group should be placed on the CMC List. Alibaba Group is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy,” the company said in a statement.

While the determinations have few immediate legal implications for many of the companies, it is seen as a move that could precede more punitive measures.

Other companies that were added include pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec and start-up Unitree, which makes humanoid robots.