China's Ministry of Commerce on Saturday threatened to retaliate after the US Defense Department added a number of Chinese companies, including Alibaba (HKG:9988), Baidu (HKG:9888) and BYD (HKG:1211, SHE:002594), to its list of firms it deems linked with the Chinese military.
"China will resolutely and forcefully retaliate, and the US will bear full responsibility for the consequences," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said over the weekend, adding that "China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to the designations.
The Pentagon published its updated Section 1260H list on June 8, which supersedes an earlier version from January 2025. The updated roster now also includes electric-vehicle maker Nio (HKG:9866), pharmaceutical research and manufacturing services provider WuXi AppTec (HKG:2359, SHA:603259), AI robotics company Robosense Technology (HKG:2498), and Unitree Robotics, which is currently pursuing an initial public offering in Shanghai. Nvidia recently said it plans to collaborate with Unitree to build robots.
The list also names telcos China Mobile (HKG:0941, SHA:600941), China Telecom (HKG:0728, SHA:601728), and China Unicom (HKG:0762), as well as chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International (HKG:0981, SHA:688981), Huawei Technologies, Contemporary Amperex Technology (SHE:300750, HKG:3750) and Tencent (HKG:0700), most of which were added in January.
The June update also reinstated ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies on the list after they were withdrawn from the February version. Both companies are among China's leading memory chipmakers and are currently pursuing public listings.
As the Pentagon noted, being on the list means an entity is identified as a contributor to China's "Military-Civil Fusion strategy," supporting the modernization goals of the People's Liberation Army "by ensuring it can acquire advanced technologies and expertise developed by PRC companies, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities."
While these Chinese companies face no formal sanctions under the list, the Pentagon is prohibited from entering into, renewing or extending contracts with them or acquiring their products starting June 30, 2026.
Several newly listed companies pushed back, with Alibaba saying it is "not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy." The company warned that it will take "all available legal action against attempts to misrepresent the company."
Baidu said there was "no justification" for its inclusion, adding that it does not expect the designation to impact its business.
BYD, which recently toppled Tesla as the world's top electric vehicle seller, echoed Alibaba and Baidu's statements, adding that the move will not impact its business.
Meanwhile, analysts from Jefferies said the update was largely anticipated, noting that an earlier version of the list had briefly appeared in February before being withdrawn without explanation.
Jefferies also noted on June 9 that while the Defense Department is prohibited from procurement of goods and services from entities in the list, "it does not restrict US citizens from engaging in trading activity with the listed companies."
In a separate Jefferies note on June 9, analysts from the bank said 10 companies were removed from the list, including, most notably, CNOOC (HKG:0883, SHA:600938).
"The immediate implication for companies on the 1260H list is that they are prohibited from providing any goods or services to the US military directly or via contractors. We believe the final decision-maker is the US president," said Jefferies.
"President Trump has just concluded his China trip, and, in our view, the US-China relationship is moving in an incrementally positive direction. In our view, President Trump is largely occupied with Iran, the high oil price (thus higher inflation risk), and the upcoming mid-term election, implying there will be less motivation for the US to escalate geopolitical tension with China."
