The BYD Pentagon military list grew substantially this week as the US Department of Defense added BYD, Alibaba, Baidu, and robotics company Unitree to its Section 1260H register of companies alleged to be operating in the United States in support of China’s military-civil fusion strategy. The list was announced via a post on the Federal Register on Monday.
BYD Pentagon Military List Now Covers 188 Companies
According to The Next Web, the updated 1260H list now names 188 companies that the Pentagon identifies as operating in the United States and contributing to China’s military-civil fusion strategy. That scale places some of China’s most commercially visible brands alongside lesser-known defence-adjacent suppliers under the same designation.
Inclusion on the list does not trigger immediate sanctions. The Department of Defense describes the register as a tool to alert American organisations to the risks of doing business with the named firms. Nevertheless, the breadth of the new additions (spanning electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, aviation and robotics) signals an intent to apply pressure across strategically sensitive technology sectors.
Alibaba and Baidu’s positions on the list carry a specific legal basis. According to the U.S. Department of Defense document, both companies are indirectly affiliated with SASAC under Section 1260H(g)(2)(B)(i)(I), the provision covering entities connected to China’s state-owned assets regulator. That affiliation, rather than any direct evidence of military contracts, appears to form the basis for their designation.
Policy analyst Stefanie Kam from the Nanyang Technological University said the US appears to have flagged these companies for their participation in state programmes rather than based on clear evidence of contracts with the Chinese military. Kam said Beijing will likely view the move as a ‘form of economic containment’ and that China could possibly retaliate with tit-for-tat sanctions, add American firms to a list of its own, or respond with some form of diplomatic pushback.
Firms Push Back as Washington-Beijing Tensions Rise
The Chinese embassy in the US told the BBC that the list is ‘discriminatory’ and that firms from China have strictly complied with the laws abroad. Several of the newly listed companies have moved quickly to contest their designation.
Alibaba’s spokesperson said the firm is ‘not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy’ and added: ‘We will take all available legal action against attempts to misrepresent our company.’ Alibaba’s representatives had also said separately that there is no basis for their companies to have been listed. A spokesperson for Baidu said that ‘there is no credible justification’ for its inclusion and that it will ‘use all options available’ to have its name struck off.
BYD, which does not export its cars to the US, surpassed Tesla earlier this year to become the world’s top electric vehicle maker. Other newly added firms include electric car maker Nio and aircraft manufacturer Comac. Unitree’s addition alongside the headline names broadens the list’s reach into the fast-growing consumer and industrial robotics space.
Companies added in previous rounds, including tech giants Tencent and Huawei, drone producer DJI, and battery maker CATL, remain on the register. Huawei’s presence has carried the most direct commercial consequences: in 2019, Washington barred US firms from doing business with the company over national security concerns linked to its equipment. Huawei has denied claims that using its products presents security risks, and says it is independent from the Chinese government.
Some of the businesses on the list compete directly with major American companies in industries such as electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, a dimension that further complicates how Washington frames the designations, as security measures or as instruments of trade policy. The BBC has contacted BYD and several other firms on the list for comment.
