Pentagon Adds Alibaba, Baidu, BYD and Unitree to Chinese Military Companies List

The Department of Defense added Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, Unitree Robotics and several other Chinese firms to its list of Chinese military companies operating in the United States. The update brings the total number of listed entities to 188 and fulfills a congressional mandate under Section 1260H of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

List details and statutory criteria The listed companies operate directly or indirectly in the United States and are owned or controlled by entities linked to the People’s Liberation Army or the government of the People’s Republic of China, according to the statutory criteria.

The additions were first published in the Federal Register in February, withdrawn for technical corrections, and reissued.

Company responses Baidu said in a statement that it categorically rejects its inclusion on the list and called the suggestion that it is a military company entirely baseless. Alibaba stated that it is not a Chinese military company, nor is it part of any military-civil fusion strategy, and that it will take all available legal action to oppose any attempts to misrepresent the company.

“Baidu categorically rejects its inclusion on the list and called the suggestion that it is a military company entirely baseless.”

the list The list does not itself ban business with the named companies but is used by other U.S. agencies when reviewing supply-chain, investment and export-control decisions. China’s foreign ministry described the list as discriminatory and said it unreasonably suppresses Chinese companies.

The Pentagon has not publicly released detailed evidence supporting each new designation beyond the statutory criteria.