Chinese commentators have criticized the US Department of Defense for pushing unilateralism after including Tencent Holdings and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co ( CATL ) on its” Chinese military companies” list.
The Department updated the Section 1260H record of Taiwanese military organizations that are active in the US on January 7. The updated CMC record today includes 134 Chinese firms.  ,
From HK$ 408.6 on January 6, stock of Tencent, the largest Hong Kong-listed firm by market cap, have declined 9.5 % to HK$ 369.6 as of January 10. Shares of the Shenzhen-listed CATL have dropped 4.2 % to 246 yuan ( US$ 33.5 ) during the period.  ,
Apart from Tencent and CATL, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Limited ( Comac ), which produces China’s self-developed C919 airliners, was added to the CMC List for the second time. The organization had been on the checklist in January 2021, but it was later dropped in June of that year after winning an appeal.  ,
Big manufacturers to Comac’s C919 plane include the United States ‘ GE Aviation, Collins Aerospace and Honeywell Aerospace and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines.  ,
A dozen additional subsidiaries of the previously blacklisted Aviation Industry Corporation of China Ltd ( AVIC ), China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited ( CASIC ), and China Communications Construction Group (CCCG) were included on the CMC List.  ,
CXMT, a company based in Hefei and that produces DRAM for use in bright cars and computer servers, is even currently listed on the list.  ,
Last March, media reports said CXMT would be blacklisted because it planned to make high-bandwidth memory ( HBM ) chips, which can be used as artificial intelligence ( AI ) accelerators.  ,  ,
The defense department said updating the Section 1260H list is an important continuing effort in highlighting and countering the People’s Republic of China’s “military-civil fusion” strategy, which aims to help the People’s Liberation Army ( PLA ) acquire advanced technologies and expertise from local companies, universities and research programs.
According to the statement, the US government has the right to acquire additional actions against these individuals under laws other than Section 1260H.  ,
China” strongly opposes the United States ‘ exercise of overstretching the concept of regional security, making biased names in different brands, and going after Chinese firms to include China’s high-quality enhancement,” Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in a press briefing on January 7.  ,
He urged the US to quickly correct its transgressions and stop its unlawful unilateral sanctions and long-arm legality against Chinese businesses. He stated that China would take all necessary steps to protect its legitimate right to growth and the legal rights and interests of Chinese firms.
Harsh competition
Zhou Xinping, a journalist for the Beijing Review, writes in an article published on January 9 that” some of the 134 companies on the Foreign Military Companies listing are defence contractors, but many others are related to the security industry sector.” They are “blacklisted because they are technologies companies.” Why Tencent is included in the list this time is certainly difficult to understand.
” This kind of destruction has nothing to do with national protection, but with cruel competitors”, Zhou says. The US government “is engaging in unethical actions against Chinese tech firms to maintain US companies ‘ advantages.”
Zhou claims that Tencent’s participation on the CMC List bestexes the growing unilateralism of the United States. He claims that the international community needs to unite to protect the world’s business regulations and buy.
” The United States ‘ inclusion of Chinese firms on different lists has become a methods of suppressing China’s scientific and technological growth”, says Huang Haifeng, a Shaanxi-based journalist. These actions may cause problems for some top-tier businesses in the near future, but they will help improve Chinese firms ‘ ability to innovate and be more globally competitive.
Huang points out that some firms, such as Xiaomi Corp and Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment, had won their appeals in the past and been removed from the list. He suggests that businesses that are on the verge of US restrictions shouldn’t become concerned because they can still grow their businesses by working with companies outside the US.  ,
In a stock exchange processing on January 7, Tencent’s Chairman Ma Huateng claimed that Tencent’s participation on the CMC List was incorrect because it is “neither a Taiwanese military organization nor a military-civil integration contribution to the Chinese security commercial base.”
He said that Tencent intends to start a review method to correct this error. ” During the process, it will engage in discussions with the DOD to resolve any misunderstanding, and if necessary, will undertake legal proceedings to remove the company from the CMC List” . ,
Ma emphasized that inclusion on the CMC List will not forbid anyone from conducting business with Tencent because it is different from the Non-Specially Designated Nationals Chinese Military-Industrial Complex ( NS-CMIC ) list maintained by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ).  ,
Qui Mengyun, a companion at AllBright Law Offices, a Shanghai-based law company, said although firms on the CMC List are not subject to economic sanctions and US export controls, they will encounter obstacles when buying for some US state contracts.  ,  ,  ,
She claimed that the NS-CMIC List and the CMC List have some similarities.
Numerous businesses on the CMC List were previously sanctioned by the US Treasury and Commerce Department.  ,
Those sanctioned by the US Treasury, such as Huawei Technologies, find it difficult to export their products to countries that settle trade in US dollars.  ,
Those who have been approved by the Commerce Department, such as Dawning Information Industry Co ( Sugon ) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp ( SMIC ), are unable to purchase expensive machinery and parts from the US. They must either sell their units or obtain US parts and supplies from third parties or from foreign nations.
Yong Jian contributes to the Asia Times. He is a Chinese journalist who specializes in Chinese technology, economy and politics.  ,
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