The American Department of Defense on Monday added the Chinese giants Alibaba (online commerce), Baidu (search engine) and BYD (electric vehicles) to its list of companies working, according to it, with the Chinese army.
Alibaba and Baidu rejected the designation as unfounded.
This decision, announced less than a month after Donald Trump’s visit to China, does not have major immediate consequences, but could limit economic relations between these groups and certain American actors, public or private.
The announcement also risks further complicating diplomatic and commercial relations between the world’s two leading economic powers, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected in Washington in September.
The list released Monday is very close to a previous version briefly released in February.
It “constitutes a warning for American companies, public authorities and the American population,” said John Moolenaar, Republican deputy and president of a special parliamentary commission on China, in a press release.
The elected official called on American companies to “stop doing business” with these groups which, according to him, “threaten our national security”.
This list also includes several Chinese companies involved in the development of artificial intelligence, including Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, the latter already appearing among the companies previously targeted.
“The allegation that Baidu is a military company is completely unfounded,” the company reacted on social networks. She claims to be ready to “use all means” to obtain her removal from this list.
Alibaba also denounced a “baseless” decision, assuring in a press release that it is “not a Chinese military company and is not involved in any civil-military assimilation strategy”.
The group reserves the right to initiate legal proceedings.
According to Alibaba, its inclusion on this list “will have no impact on the group’s current activities in the United States or the rest of the world”, its activities being unrelated to the public procurement of the American army.
The company also claims that this decision “will not result in any further export restrictions or sanctions.”
AFP
