The U.S. government quickly withdrew a document that was publicly released on Friday that outlined companies with ties to the Chinese military, which included new additions.
The document briefly appeared on the Federal Register on Friday morning before being taken down and replaced with a message that said, “An agency letter requesting withdrawal of this document was received after placement on public inspection.”
There was no additional explanation provided.
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The list is formally known as Section 1260H. The withdrawn document included new companies Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu, BYD, WuXi AppTec and RoboSense Technology while memory chip manufactures Yangtze Memory Technologies and ChangXin Memory Technologies were removed.
The Pentagon is required by law to identify and publish a list of companies that work with the Chinese military annually until the end of 2030 due to a provision with the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The list was first published in 2021.
A spokesperson for Alibaba told the South China Morning Post that there is “no basis” for its listing, adding that the company “is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy.”
Similarly, a Baidu spokesperson said in a statement that “we categorically reject the inclusion,” which has “no credible basis,” and that the “suggestion that Baidu is a military company is entirely baseless and no evidence has been produced that would prove otherwise.”
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Placement on this list bars the Department of War from contracting with firms on the list and signals the uncertainty and risk involved with working with them. It does not impose formal sanctions on the companies.
The listing of these companies and possible backlash could hamper the intended spring meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
