Pentagon Adds Alibaba, Baidu and BYD to Chinese Military List

The United States Department of Defense has added Alibaba, Baidu and the electric-vehicle maker BYD to its Section 1260H list of companies it says contribute to China's military-civil fusion strategy. The drugmaker WuXi AppTec, the robotics firm Unitree and the carmaker Nio were also named, according to the South China Morning Post.

The designation does not itself impose sanctions, but it bars the Pentagon from entering, extending or renewing procurement contracts with the listed firms and serves as a formal warning to American businesses and investors. The notice was filed Monday and is scheduled for Federal Register publication on June 10.

The move targets some of China's most valuable and globally recognized companies, several of which trade on US exchanges or have large foreign investor bases. It expands a campaign that has steadily moved from semiconductors and telecommunications equipment toward consumer technology, electric vehicles and pharmaceuticals.

The pressure to decouple affects both sides. As Washington restricts the ways in which Chinese firms can reach American capital and contracts, it accelerates the parallel financial and trade system that Beijing and its partners have been building, a structural shift toward a more divided global economy.