Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The US Department of Defense released a new list of so-called "Chinese military companies" - a list of firms that it alleges work with China's military, on Monday. International media quickly noted that even Tencent Holdings had made the list, which sparked surprise and panic in overseas markets. From an external perspective, Tencent is primarily known as its social media application WeChat and its game Honor of Kings. The company has no connection to Pentagon's alleged claim of "collaborating with the Chinese military." Some mainstream international media have published stories with Tencent on their headlines, indicating their attitude toward the Pentagon's so-called list: it is nothing short of absurd.

On the evening of Tuesday, Tencent Holdings responded that it intended to initiate a Reconsideration Process to correct this mistake. During the process, the company will engage in discussions with the US Department of Defense to resolve any misunderstandings, and if necessary, will undertake legal proceedings. Apart from Tencent, other Chinese companies which were added to the "blacklist" include CATL, China Commercial Aircraft Corporation, China COSCO Shipping Corporation, CXMT, and etc. With this update, the Pentagon's "blacklist" now includes 134 companies, nearly covering all of China's top tech enterprises. Anyone with a discerning eye can easily recognize this as a poorly disguised attempt by the US to suppress Chinese leading tech companies under the clumsy excuse of so-called "national security."

The Pentagon's military-related companies list is becoming an increasingly absurd political farce. Chinese companies are added or removed based on little more than the speculative whims of politicians, with terms like "possibly" and "concerned" being their most frequently used words. Many companies, including Xiaomi, DJI, Hesai, and Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc China (AMEC), have resorted to legal action to protect their legitimate rights. Some have filed complaints or lawsuits against the Pentagon, and even faced "second-round rights protection" efforts, but the Pentagon's arbitrary approach remains like a stubborn "sticker" that can't be peeled off. This year, DJI and Hesai remain on the list. The Pentagon removed six Chinese companies without giving any explanation, showing little regard for the losses these Chinese firms endured during this period.

From the lawsuits filed by Chinese companies previously blacklisted by the Pentagon, we've come to learn quite a few details. For instance, AMEC was listed simply because it had received a manufacturing award from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Meanwhile, DJI discovered that the Pentagon initially refused to engage in dialogue with the company, but later provided a report riddled with errors, failing even to differentiate between consumer drones powered by batteries and military drones that use gasoline or diesel. This shows that the Pentagon's so-called "list" is nothing but a "messy account." What exactly are the Pentagon's "standards of determination"? An analyst at Stansberry Research, a publisher of financial research based in the US, hit the nail on the head: "It's turning out that if you're an innovative Chinese business making money, you're likely to be considered a threat to US national security. Wild."

The very act of the Pentagon creating this list under the pretext of "military involvement" embodies a hegemonic mindset that aims to prohibit technological achievements from supporting the development of China's national defense. This shows blatant double standards. It's hard to imagine how a country's defense modernization could progress without relying on advanced technology. In fact, many American high-tech companies maintain close ties with the Pentagon. For example, Microsoft once secured $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon, and the Pentagon even poached Apple's Vice President, Doug Beck, appointing him as the director of its Defense Innovation Unit. In the era of artificial intelligence, the Pentagon is accelerating the adoption of large language models and other generative AI tools by the military, with deep and extensive ties to Silicon Valley tech companies. Therefore, the essence of the Pentagon's so-called "blacklist" is an unfair "bully clause" aimed at containing China's development.

In fact, the US' approach of suppressing Chinese companies in this manner is a lose-lose strategy. Take the companies listed this time as examples: Tencent fully owns Riot Games, the developer of the popular game League of Legends, which is highly favored by young Americans, and also holds a significant stake in Epic Games, the developer of another hit game, Fortnite. CATL is a partner of Ford and Tesla, and Ford plans to collaborate with CATL to establish a lithium iron phosphate EV battery plant in Michigan. Whether in terms of investment, trade, or supply chain integration, the highly complementary economies of China and the US require mutual dependence and coexistence, with significant potential for collaboration in the tech sector. These cannot simply be "blocked" by a Pentagon mandate.

On January 7, He Lifeng, Chinese vice premier and Chinese lead person for China-US economic and trade affairs, held a video call with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. During the talks, China raised concerns about US economic and trade restrictions on China, and in particular clarified its stance on recent US trade investigations. The Chinese people's right to development shouldn't be deprived, and the Chinese government's firm determination to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its enterprises will never waver. The US made solemn commitments to not seek a "new cold war" or conflict with China. China hopes the US will align its actions with its words and deliver on its promises.