HONG KONG — The U.S. Defense Department has added dozens of Chinese companies, including games and technology corporation Tencent, artificial intelligence firm SenseTime and the globe’s biggest battery maker CATL, to a list of companies it says have ties to China’s military, prompting some to protest and declare they will seek to have the selection reversed.
The U.S. has in recent years sought to restrict sharing of advanced technology, including semiconductors and artificial intelligence, deeming it to be a threat to national safety. The Defense Department updates its list of “Chinese Military Companies,” or CMC list, annually. With the latest revision it includes 134 companies. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 bans the Department of Defense from dealing with the designated companies beginning in June 2026.
Tencent’s Hong Kong-traded shares fell 7.3% on Tuesday and the corporation said it would “initiate a reconsideration procedure to correct this mistake,” seek talks with the Defense Department and if require be receive legal measures to get it removed from the list. Tencent is the globe’s largest video gaming corporation and operates Chinese messaging platform WeChat.
“As the corporation is neither a Chinese military corporation nor a military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base, it believes that its inclusion in the CMC List is a mistake,” Tencent said in an announcement to the Hong Kong distribute trade. “Unlike other lists maintained by the U.S. Government for sanctions or export control measures, inclusion in the CMC List relates only to U.S. defense procurement, which does not affect the business of the throng,” it said.
Battery maker CATL said in a statement posted on its website that the corporation “has never engaged in any military-related business or activities” and said the designation would not have adverse impact on its operations.
Like Tencent, CATL maintains that its inclusion to the list was a “mistake” and that it would proactively engage with the DoD to “address the untrue designation” and receive legal action if essential to protect corporation and stakeholder profit. CATL’s distribute fell 2.84% in Shenzhen.
AI corporation SenseTime said in a statement that the selection to include it on the list had “no factual basis.”
“We firmly dissent with it,” SenseTime’s statement read, adding that the selection has “no material impact on our global operations.”
“SenseTime remains firmly committed to working collaboratively with the relevant stakeholders to address this matter, and to safeguarding the interests of the corporation and our shareholders,” the corporation said.
During a daily information briefing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun urged the U.S. to “immediately correct its incorrect practices, and lift the illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction on Chinese companies.”
“China consistently and firmly opposes the U.S. overstretching the concept of national safety, creating discriminatory lists under various pretexts, and unwarrantedly suppressing Chinese companies, hindering China’s high-standard advancement,” Guo said.
