The United States has added Chinese giants Alibaba, Baidu, and BYD to its list of companies linked to the Chinese military, less than a month after a high-profile summit between U.S. and Chinese leaders Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
The annual update to the so-called “1260H” list, released on Monday by the Pentagon, also includes pharmaceutical company WuXi AppTec, robotics manufacturers Unitree and RoboSense, and semiconductor producers CXMT and YMTC, among other Chinese firms.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the listed companies meet the criteria defined by United States legislation to be considered entities associated with the Chinese Armed Forces while operating within U.S. territory.
In the case of Alibaba and Baidu, the Pentagon pointed to alleged connections with China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Regarding BYD, the Department also referenced the company’s presence in a zone linked to China’s military-civil fusion strategy.
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Several of the targeted companies have strongly disputed the decision. WuXi AppTec labeled the inclusion “clearly wrong” and announced it would take immediate action to contest the designation. In a statement released today, the pharmaceutical firm asserted that it is not controlled by Chinese military or government entities, does not provide services to the Chinese military, and does not participate in military-civil fusion programs.
Quoted by the Chinese financial portal Yicai, Baidu deemed the designation “completely groundless” and guaranteed it would use all available resources to request its removal from the list.
Inclusion on the 1260H list does not trigger automatic sanctions. However, U.S. law prohibits the Department of Defense from contracting directly with the designated companies and schedules an expansion of these restrictions to indirect acquisitions starting in 2027.
Last year, Washington added Tencent and CATL to the same list, reflecting growing concerns among U.S. authorities regarding the role played by some of China’s largest technology firms. This latest move comes less than a month after a summit held in Beijing between Trump and Xi, which had temporarily eased trade and technological tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
