Weeks before a Trump-Xi summit, the Pentagon added major Chinese firms including Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu and BYD to a list of supposed “Chinese military companies,” only to withdraw the filing shortly after. The move highlights mixed signals from Washington and injects fresh uncertainty into the fragile US-China truce.
The Pentagon recently updated its Section 1260H list, which identifies companies the US government believes are “Chinese military companies” or contributors to China’s military-civil fusion efforts. The updated designation added giants like Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu and BYD, spanning the biotech, AI, drone and semiconductor sectors, including WuXi AppTec and RoboSense Technology. Chinese memory chip manufacturers Yangtze Memory Technologies and ChangXin Memory Technologies were removed from the list.
The document was removed from the Federal Register on Friday morning upon agency request for withdrawal. According to a letter acquired by the South China Morning Post, the US Defence Department’s Privacy, Civil Liberties and Transparency Directorate requested the removal of its notice on Friday without explaining the reason. The Pentagon told the South China Morning Post in an email that it had nothing to announce at this time.
Friday’s move underscores the inconsistency and mixed messaging emanating from the Trump administration, as some in Washington policy circles suggested that arms of the administration had not coordinated on the announcement.
