China Condemns US Move to Blacklist Major Tech Firms Over Military Links
BEIJING: China has strongly criticised the United States after Washington added several leading Chinese technology companies, including Alibaba and Baidu, to a Pentagon blacklist of firms alleged to have ties to the Chinese military.
Speaking at a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing “firmly opposes” what it described as the US government’s misuse of national security concerns to suppress Chinese businesses.
“China has consistently opposed the broadening of the national security concept and the unreasonable targeting of Chinese enterprises,” Lin said, urging Washington to reverse its decision. He also warned that China would take necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of its companies.
The updated blacklist, released by the US Department of Defence on Monday, contains 80 Chinese companies and subsidiaries that Washington claims are linked to China’s military modernisation efforts. The list closely resembles a version briefly published in February before it was unexpectedly withdrawn.
Among the firms included are Chinese technology giants Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, all of which play significant roles in artificial intelligence and digital innovation. Tencent had already appeared on previous versions of the blacklist.
The latest update also reinstated two major Chinese memory chip manufacturers, ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies, after they were removed from the February version.
Alibaba rejected its inclusion on the list, describing the move as a mistake, while Baidu stated that there was “no credible justification” for the designation.
The blacklist carries limited immediate legal consequences for most of the affected companies. However, analysts view the move as a signal that tougher restrictions or sanctions could follow in the future.
The development comes at a sensitive time in US-China relations, just weeks after a high-profile summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing aimed at stabilising ties between the world’s two largest economies.
Despite efforts to improve relations, the latest blacklist decision underscores ongoing tensions over technology, national security and economic competition between Washington and Beijing.