WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Chinese tech giant Alibaba has sued the U.S. Department of Defense, demanding that it be removed from the Pentagon’s list of Chinese military companies that prohibits them from landing U.S. defense contracts and carries reputational damage.
In the petition filed this week in the San Jose division of the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, Alibaba, which is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, argued that the designation, on June 8, has 鈥渘o basis in fact or law” and that the Pentagon failed to reach its conclusion through any fair process.
It is the latest lawsuit by a Chinese company against the Pentagon over such national security labels.
In 2021, with some in Washington seeing China , Congress asked the department to create a list of Chinese companies directly controlled by the Chinese military and security forces, as well as those it believed had contributed to the country’s defense industrial base.
The current list includes 188 entities ranging from state-owned defense businesses, to private-sector tech companies like Alibaba and the robotics company Unitree. The designations have drawn protests from both and some of the targeted companies.
On Monday, Beijing on 10 American military-related companies, raising the risk of elevating tensions between the two countries at a time when .
WuXi AppTec Co., a company that provides research, development and manufacturing services to hundreds of U.S. pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, has also been added to the list. According to the Pentagon, the company is 鈥渋ndirectly owned鈥� by China’s state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. The Pentagon says it’s also 鈥渋ndirectly affiliated鈥� with the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the People’s Liberation Army.
WuXi AppTec is challenging the decision in the federal district court in the District of Columbia. In the petition filed on June 11, the company said the label has 鈥渁lready caused and will continue to cause several and irreparable harms.鈥� It called the designation 鈥渢he product of political pressure and inaccurate, unsupported assertions.鈥�
In a petition Tuesday, Alibaba said the company is losing backers in the U.S. and that the damage is significant because the company depends on the trust of its U.S. partners.
The Pentagon asserts that Alibaba not only is affiliated with the China’s Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, but that it contributes to the nation’s industrial defense complex through its affiliation with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Alibaba said in its petition that it is governed by an independent board and holds no military certification or license. The company has no relationship with the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, it said, and that like all companies operating in China, including U.S. companies, regulatory compliance with the ministry is mandatory.
鈥淎 regulator is not an affiliate,鈥� reads the petition.
A U.S. judge last year ruled against DJI Technology, a Chinese drone maker, in its bid to be removed from the Pentagon’s list. DJI is appealing the case.
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AP Business Writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed
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