The Pentagon shared its updated list of Chinese companies it believes are both aiding the country’s military and operating directly or indirectly in the United States on Monday, which included new additions such as Alibaba, internet search provider Baidu, and automaker BYD.
Other companies added to this year’s list, which features 188 companies in total and was released on Monday, include biotech firm WuXi AppTec, AI-driven robotics company RoboSense Technology, and Unitree, a leading Chinese maker of robots.
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It notes at the top that Deputy War Secretary Steve Feinberg has determined these companies meet the designation of “Chinese military companies,” which provide commercial services, manufacturing, producing, or exporting to their military while also operating directly or indirectly in the U.S.
A WuXi AppTec spokesperson disputed the designation in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“We note that the U.S. Department of Defense incorrectly included WuXi AppTec in its updated Section 1260H list of designated ‘Chinese military companies.’ The designation of WuXi AppTec on this updated list – along with the alleged basis for the designation – was clearly a mistake, and we will take immediate actions to correct this erroneous designation,” the spokesperson said. “We do not meet the statutory criteria for designation as a ‘Chinese military company.’ The allegation basis for our 1260H list designation is factually incorrect: we are not owned or controlled by or affiliated with any PRC military or government entity; we do not provide services to the PRC military; and we are not associated with the PRC’s defense industrial base or military-civil fusion programs.”
The list mirrors one published in February that was withdrawn shortly after, with little explanation, with two exceptions. Memory chip manufacturers Yangtze Memory Technologies and ChangXin Memory Technologies were on the list in 2025 but not on the list that was erroneously published in February, but they are listed in the version released on Monday.
Representatives from both Alibaba and Baidu disputed their inclusion on the short-lived list from earlier this year.
Every year, the department is statutorily required to update the list of Chinese companies believed to be supporting the Chinese military as outlined in Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2021. Companies listed do have the opportunity to contest their inclusion.
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The designation on this list bars the War Department from contracting with firms and signals uncertainty and risk involved with working with them to others. It does not impose formal sanctions on them.
The updated list supersedes the one from last year, and it also comes a month after President Donald Trump’s highly anticipated visit to Beijing to meet with leader Xi Jinping.
