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China The Military

US Labels BYD, Baidu, Alibaba and Other Tech Giants As Aiding China's Military (apnews.com) 123

Posted by BeauHD from the add-to-list dept.
The Pentagon has added Alibaba, BYD, Baidu, Unitree, and other Chinese companies to its list of firms it says support China's military, barring them from U.S. defense contracts. The companies and China's embassy deny the allegations. The Associated Press reports: Created in 2021 by a congressional mandate, the list (PDF) seeks to identify Chinese companies that the Pentagon considers to have links to the Chinese military -- not only those directly controlled by the Chinese military and security forces but also those contributing to the country's defense industrial base. When updating the list last year, the Pentagon said the Chinese military sought to acquire advanced technologies and expertise developed by Chinese companies, universities and research programs that "appear to be civilian entities."

The Chinese Embassy on Monday accused the U.S. of "overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies." It said Chinese companies observe the laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. "The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies," the embassy said in a statement. [...] The Chinese Embassy on Monday accused the U.S. of "overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies." It said Chinese companies observe the laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. "The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies," the embassy said in a statement.
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US Labels BYD, Baidu, Alibaba and Other Tech Giants As Aiding China's Military More

US Labels BYD, Baidu, Alibaba and Other Tech Giants As Aiding China's Military

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  • So what? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by crunchy_one ( 1047426 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @07:07PM (#66183188)
    How many American companies have ties to the U.S. military-industrial complex?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by zeiche ( 81782 )

      that was the first thing i thought as well. let’s start with OpenAI, then move on to GM and Ford. there’s so many. what’s the point of this list?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by haemish ( 28576 )

      If you simply type this question into a Google search box, you get quite a list. Some clear biggies up front, but a long tail of thousands. If the rest of the world applied the "supports...military" criteria to US companies, almost all exports would stop.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by caseih ( 160668 )

        US technology (military and civilian) companies have been and remain in a very dominant position compared to most other countries. So while the US has the luxury of banning foreign companies with ties to foreign militaries, few other countries have that luxury. Up until now, even with US military ties and probable spying that went with it, such deals were still fairly mutually beneficial. Now, though, the US government, and an increasing number of Americans, wants the world to bow down to their benefacto

        • Easy answer: which one gives you cheap EVs? And which one is just single handedly responsible for your contry's gas prices to have gone up by 30% mere weeks ago for no good reason?

          There. Now you know which is more likely to stand in the way of your pursuit for happiness.

          • Re: So what? (Score:5, Informative)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday June 10, 2026 @04:59AM (#66183698) Homepage Journal

            The US still sets the tone for international relationships, to some degree. This is signalling that any country that wants to go protectionist is free to designate foreign companies as "aiding the military" or some other excuse, when they can't compete.

            It's the kind of economic policy you would expect from a guy who managed to bankrupt a casino.

        • USA has been a bully with ambitions of domination long before it was a country

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by larryjoe ( 135075 )

      How many American companies have ties to the U.S. military-industrial complex?

      It's not just "ties." How many American companies have had their CEOs mysteriously disappear, jailed, prosecuted for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" [wikipedia.org]? This is a uniquely Chinese (or at least authoritarian) characteristic. The level of control that the Chinese government exerts over all Chinese companies has no equivalent in the US. There are no opposition parties, no free press, no independent courts (that goes way beyond what has happened to the SCOTUS recently). Things happen in China simply

      • Yeah, in America we disappear non-CEOs. Why would the government disappear the ruling class of a corpocracy?

        • Where did that word come from? Today is the first time I saw it, and it should be Corporatocracy. Corpocracy should just mean "rule by (a?) body".

          • It came from my typo.

            • That's what I thought at first, but my browser tried to correct my own typo to corpocracy as well, instead of corporatocracy. And I had never seen that word before.

              I wasn't trying to criticize you by the way; this has been me registering surprise over a silly word I had never encountered and that appears to be incorrect. Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly as it happens that I check this term often, I'm seeing this new word in search results where, in my memory, it had never appeared before.

              I see peop

              • The term Corporatocracy [wikipedia.org] shows up in some left-wing essays going back at least to the 1990's that I'm aware of. It's one of those terms that gets thrown around like "kleptocracy" that is more of a pejorative than a serious classification.

      • Re: So what? (Score:2, Informative)

        by easyTree ( 1042254 )

        Immense roadblocks like what? Your legal system is compromised, Congress is 84% owned by ItsNotReali AIPAC The media appear to be 90% controlled. Not too long ago your president's subnormally-intelligent private army was murdering citizens in the street whilst being recorded - they openly lied about the victims to try to justify it. They're openly covering for their involvement in international paedophile and kompromat rings - arguably starting an illegal war as a distraction. Elections are more at risk th

      • China considers its courts very well independent.

      • My dude, in China the government controls the corporations in the interest of societal good. In the US the megacorps control the government in the interest of private profits. One of these is far better and humane than the other. And mind you: Only one of these countries is actively participating in multiple genocides, violations of sovereignty and just your daily crimes against humanity. And yes, there are "opposition" parties in China, only Capitalist/Liberal parties are forbidden because OF COURSE they

    • Yeah, better not flying in a Boeing aircraft.

    • So, assuming you live in China, boycott them.
      And people who prefer living in democracies will continue to boycott companies supporting dictatorships.

      • Re: So what? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by kertaamo ( 16100 ) on Wednesday June 10, 2026 @03:13AM (#66183610)

        That is exactly why many people are boycotting American products as much as possible. That is why the EU is trying to ween itself of of American tech services. That is why Canada is restricting imports from America.

        Americans had better take steps to preserve their democracy before it is too late.

        • Trump is a danger to democracy.

          But anyone claiming America is already a dictatorship is very welcome to illegally immigrate into China/Iran/Saudi Arabia to see what a real one is like.
          Let us know how you get on there.
          And be sure to complain about your rights being violated and wave your LGBTBLIPBLOP++ flags a lot.
        • You're equating a trade dispute to the end of democracy?

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by caseih ( 160668 )

            Are you really unaware of all the fairly permanent, anti-democratic moves being made by Trump and MAGA? The return to Jim Crow in the south, nation-wide voting restrictions, redistricting which is only acceptable in GOP states apparently, the near daily (it seems) violations of the constitution by the executive, the unwillingness of Congress to do their job and keep the president from being a dictator? The trade dispute is but a symptom of this problem. As a long time watcher and admirer of the US and Am

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Zocalo ( 252965 )
      ALL of them, from the tech giants all the way down to the smallest of "Mom & Pop" stores. They pay their taxes (mostly), then Congress allocates a proportion of those taxes to the DoD's budget, which then spends them on the MIC. Pretty much the same as any country, including China.

      The US is stepping onto a very slippery slope here, and if the Chinese start to respond in kind then it's an awfully long way down given it's pretty clear by now that Trump has no clue that playing tit-for-tat isn't a goo
      • So, you're equating taxes and contracted work to direct ownership and Party control?

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Zocalo ( 252965 )
          No, I'm pointing out where the slippery slope goes. The US has its approach to business ownership and control, China has theirs, the rest is semantics.

          Functionally, there is not a lot of difference between a company with direct ties to the Chinese government that is obligated to share data on the QT, because that is what Chinese law says they have to do, and a US one that receives a National Security Letter and does the same, because that's what US law says they have to do. It's pretty much an open sec
          • There is a massive amount of difference between a company that works with a government and one that is directly controlled by a government. When a company's board is comprised of Party members and the Chinese government owns "golden shares" of it, it is an organ of the government. That is quite different from having to obey domestic laws.

            NSLs are limited in scope and can be challenged in court. The CCP will not challenge itself in court nor refuse to comply with itself, nor deny itself any information

    • Minor change to the wording: How many American companies are required by US Government to routinely supply said Government with all the information it wants without even involving the courts? In China if the Chinese government asks for a company's or individual's private data the companies must immediately comply with courts being irrelevant.

      At least in the US we have legitimate courts between corporations and the government.

      {o.o}

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        How many American companies are required by US Government to routinely supply said Government with all the information it wants without even involving the courts?

        Depends what you mean. Every company with a government contract pretty much has to do that. There are certainly some that are secretly forced to do so as well:

        https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying [eff.org]

        Do you count secret courts?

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

        • In the US only companies with government contracts are required to supply data to the US government beyond filing tax returns. Virtually any other data requires a court order. In China EVERY company must supply data of any kind that is requested to the government on request. I presume you can see the difference here.

          {^_^}

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

            Oh? There are a lot of laws. Are you sure? You don't even get to know about all of them. There are secret executive orders, things like the Invention Secrecy Act, Defense Production Act, and good old intimidation. Or do you think the telecoms engaged in all that illegal spying because they really loved detective novels?

    • I can completely understand why the US doesn't want Chinese companies bidding for US Military contracts. National security is maybe a legitimate concern when it comes to anything that contains electronics or software, which is virtually everything now.

      However, I suspect the real reason is the simple fact that US companies would not be able to compete if forced to bid against Chinese manufacturers. The result being that the US military will get overpriced and underperforming equipment from US companies, prou

    • That's the 'black' joke I was looking for along the same lines as FP.

      But getting more serious, at risk of dipping my toe into insight, if we were technically ahead of the Chinese companies, then we would be able to figure out the security threats. So I see this sort of thing as mostly surrendering and admitting the Chinese are too dangerous and we have to "run away, run away" (with the usual apology to Monty Python for the abuse of the killer rabbit joke).

      Not sure how my next joke works, but there was a tim

    • Sure, one bets USA will not allow a Chinese firm to collect Palantir data scraped off the internet and the phone carriers and other places. Actually UK is in a pickle because Palantir has mined UK citizen data, possibly medical records too. It is no secret that data fusion can get to Stasi levels. Or that Epstein related records are NOT being joined and mined like they could be. The scary part is that a dollar value has not been placed on risk, human rights etc. Seems the money is on suppressing persons

  • Relax. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sizzzzlerz ( 714878 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @07:16PM (#66183196)

    More contracts for Don, Jr.

  • The charade has stopped. The rest of us no longer care for your classifying foreigners as "enemies of democracy" for profit. They happily take other currencies.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Donnites don't seem to believe in the benefits of international trade. They seem to think we can efficiently make everything ourselves. Can we send them to Comparative Advantage Camp to deprogram them?

  • Alibaba (Score:1, Troll)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

    I was going to ask who would award a US defense contract to Alibaba but then I remembered who is running the government.

  • What I heard is (Score:3, Funny)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @07:17PM (#66183202)

    I heard that the Chinese Embassy on Monday accused the U.S. of "overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies." It said Chinese companies observe the laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. "The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies," the embassy said in a statement.

    I also heard that the Chinese Embassy on Monday accused the U.S. of "overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies." It said Chinese companies observe the laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. "The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies," the embassy said in a statement.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by marcle ( 1575627 )

      That's funny, I heard the same echo...

    • I heard that the Chinese Embassy on Monday accused the U.S. of "overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies."

      While this is slightly different, the Trump Administration likes to put things under the umbrella of "national security" to bypass normal rules and the Courts, who generally defer to an administration on things characterized as such. Obviously, it's mostly bullshit to help enable Trump to rule by whim/fiat. A good example is the claim that continuing the ballroom construction is necessary for "national security" -- noting that announcing that sort of thing is not normal or good.

      • Trump's construction company is being paid, what is it, $1B now, for a Victorian dancing venue - it sounds critically important.

        (weirdly the autocorrect chose 'British' instead of Victorian).

      • You're conflating the ballroom itself, which is paid for externally, with the secure facilities that they propose building beneath it. That's what they want tax dollars for. As I recall, at least.
  • Every confident titan fights tooth and nail to get their opponents disqualified rather than have to actually fight them in the ring. This makes the U.S. look incredibly weak. It's a shame because at the rate Trump is destroying the economy, soon U.S. citizens aren't going to be able to afford anything other than Chinese products.

  • Call it a national security issue! LOL. Classic US.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by caseih ( 160668 )

      Isn't it though? Most countries, if they could, would enact similar policies for military procurement.

  • Cringe (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Ogive17 ( 691899 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @09:19PM (#66183310)
    I always cringe at these announcements from the current administration. And then I cringe at China's scripted response, pretending they operate a free market and welcome competition.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's important to differentiate the too though. China's responses are reactive. Their whole pitch is that if you trade with them, they won't randomly sanction you due to senility or whatever reason the US is claiming today. They are a stable, non-judgemental partner.

      It's working too. A lot of developing nations are turning to China, rather than the US, or Europe.

      • Dude, Western companies can't even operate on their own in China, they have to "partner" with a domestic corporation.

    • And then I cringe at China's scripted response, pretending they operate a free market and welcome competition.

      The trouble is the answers are layered and nuanced.

      Firstly free markets are often something of a fiction anyway. They work in some cases, not in others, and I don't worship at that particular altar.

      Second, foreign businesses operating in China do face something of an uphill struggle, I gather.

      But also, trade with Chinese companies is often pretty easy. I'm at a pretty small scale company at the mome

      • There is a show of domestic competition, but that's all it is. Every company is at least in part controlled by the CPP, so it isn't really competition. Totalitairans despise competition.

        And have you tried selling your product to them? They're happy to sell you whatever, and happy to take any investments you'd like to make, but you'll never be able to sell directly to Chinese customers. You'll have to partner with a Chinese company who will sell your products and split the profit with you.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by angel'o'sphere ( 80593 )

          Every company is at least in part controlled by the CPP, so it isn't really competition.
          Double wrong.
          1) The control would not be by the CPP, but by the Chinese State.
          2) only if the state still has shares in the company

          For example the Chinese state has no stocks in BYD or CATL - they are by a good deal owned by the original founders, CATL more than BYD, though.

          The party has no means do control anything, same as your two parties can't - there is no bureaucratic way to put any control on any company. The sta

          • Are you not aware that the PRC is a one-party state and that the CCP is indistinguishable from the government? Did you not know that BYD's founder and CEO is a Party member? Or that the government owns "golden" shares in the company? 11% of CATL is owned by the state. I don't have time right now to look through the board, but there will be several CCP members on it. There always are. It's mandatory.

  • It's going to be hilarious seeing the situation in the US in ten years time, it's going to look like Cuba, a bunch of people trying to keep ancient vintage gas-guzzling cars running, with no manufacturing industry to make new ones, and the rest of the world having moved on. And they would have done it to themselves! ^_^

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shilly ( 142940 )

      I’ve said the exact same thing here a couple of times. The difference will be that the ancient cars the Cubans keep on their roads are often quite attractive, whereas a modern US pickup looks like an oversized turd on oversized wheels.

      • The ancient American cars people are thinking of when they think of Cuba were made of thicker, softer metal, which is easier to work on. Those vehicles were made of 100% virgin steel. Modern cars have substantial recycled content and the steel is much harder, therefore harder to work, and they use harder steel specifically so that they can make it thinner, which is also harder to work without destroying the metal. You simply cannot restore a modern vehicle as easily as you can the older ones, even putting c

  • from TFA:

    It said the companies on the list that are traded publicly on U.S. exchanges should be delisted

    I own some BABA they going to force me to sell? What price????
    Maybe the whole thing is retaliation for this:

    China is making it harder for retail investors to steer money to U.S. stocks, ramping up a longer-term shift that steers domestic capital and companies toward Hong Kong.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/0... [cnbc.com]

  • uncanny (Score:3)

    by noshellswill ( 598066 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @11:12PM (#66183388) Homepage
    When Chinese companies are NEWLY ascribed to supporting Chinese interests  something is not OKey. For the last 60 years, did any American need to be taught that all Chinese companies, investors and citizens pimp their own military ... just like all USA citizens support our own military? This "surprise" discovery and assignment cannot be made in good faith.
    • This is disingenuous. There is no law in the US that requires all US companies to provide support to, give information to, or work directly for the government. That is law in China. I seem to remember Anthropic saying that they couldn't provide services to the US government. I remember when Google employees nearly rioted about their company providing services to the US government. Try any of that in China. Go ahead, I'll wait. US companies, except in the most dire of situations, can choose not to do busines

  • Perhaps they should sanction all the USA companies having ties with the USA military? Not selling them rare earths anymore, for example?

  • It nearly made me spit out my coffee to see, "The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies,". Really? You first!
  • even more attractive

  • pot calling the kettle black

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