China Blasts Pentagon's Military Blacklist of Alibaba, BYD

(MENAFN) Beijing fired back on Tuesday after Washington added several of China's most prominent corporations — including tech titans Alibaba and Baidu, electric vehicle giant BYD, and automaker NIO — to a Pentagon list of firms allegedly tied to the Chinese military, denouncing the move as discriminatory and a threat to bilateral economic stability.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, responding to questions at a regular press briefing, said Beijing "firmly opposes" the designation and accused Washington of weaponizing national security concerns to suppress Chinese commercial interests.

"The US side overstretches the concept of national security, discriminates against and suppresses Chinese companies, and violates the principles of market economy and fair competition," Lin said, according to a transcript published on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's official website.

Lin demanded that Washington "immediately correct its mistaken practices" and cease targeting Chinese enterprises, warning that Beijing would take "necessary measures" to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its companies.

WHAT THE DESIGNATION MEANS
The US Department of Defense updated its so-called "Chinese Military Companies" list on Monday, adding the high-profile batch of firms. While the designation stops short of imposing immediate sanctions, it bars the Pentagon from procuring goods or services from listed entities and significantly exposes them to heightened regulatory scrutiny — a reputational and operational burden that carries real commercial consequences.

Several of the newly listed companies have already pushed back forcefully, rejecting the allegations as baseless and signaling their intention to pursue legal remedies.

A DEEPENING TECH AND SECURITY RIFT
The Pentagon's latest additions represent a fresh escalation in the technology and security tensions that have come to define the relationship between the world's two largest economies. The move follows a well-established pattern of US regulatory actions targeting Chinese firms across sectors from semiconductors and telecommunications to electric vehicles and artificial intelligence — each step deepening the structural decoupling between the two economies even as diplomatic channels remain nominally open.

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