All articles tagged with #military civil fusion
Alibaba has filed a California federal lawsuit to overturn its designation on the DoD's 1260H blacklist, arguing the link to the Chinese military is baseless and that the decision is arbitrary. The blacklist would bar new U.S. government business from June 30 and could force its US advisers to sever ties, while Alibaba maintains its board has no military affiliations and its platforms are for retail and cloud computing, not weapons.
The Pentagon expanded its annual list of Chinese military companies to include Alibaba, BYD and Baidu, widening a blacklist that could bar them from US defense contracts amid heightened US-China tensions. China condemned the move; Alibaba said there is no military basis and vowed legal action, while BYD and Baidu did not immediately comment. The list now includes 188 firms, reflecting ongoing scrutiny of China’s military–civil fusion and its impact on commerce and diplomacy.
The Pentagon concludes that Alibaba and BYD should be added to the 1260H 'Chinese Military Companies' list for alleged ties to the Chinese military, signaling heightened tensions ahead of a Trump-Xi summit; Baidu is also slated for inclusion, while WuXi AppTec, RoboSense and BOE are added and CXMT and YMTC removed. The Federal Register posting was briefly pulled; inclusion generally carries reputational risk and potential future actions rather than immediate legal penalties. Alibaba, Baidu and BYD deny the allegations, as Washington presses on with tech, trade and Taiwan-related policy.
China has tightened its control over foreign access to its databases and financial records, partially motivated by US think tanks' efforts to monitor hard-to-find information on Beijing and its "military-civil fusion" strategy. The increased restrictions are due to mounting concern among top Chinese officials over the intelligence that US analysts have been able to garner by using publicly available information. The new guidelines could make continuing business with China more risky, and Western consulting, legal, cyber, and auditing firms may find it harder to conduct business with Beijing.