The United States Department of War (DoW) expanded its list of Chinese-based firms that Washington has identified as aiding Beijing and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The updated 1260H List published on Monday included around two dozen companies, including tech giants Alibaba Group and Baidu, as well as Autel Robotics, China COSCO Shipping, the Hesai Group and WuXi AppTec.
“The Deputy Secretary of War has determined that the following entities qualify for designation as ‘Chinese military companies,’ are engaged in providing commercial services, manufacturing, producing, or exporting … and operate directly or indirectly in the United States,” reads the Notice of Availability of Designation of Chinese Military Companies.
“The Department will update the list with additional entities as appropriate. The United States Government reserves the right to take additional actions on these entities under authorities other than Section 1260H,” the Pentagon also announced.
The publishing of the list quickly earned praise from Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who serves as the Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
“This updated list of Chinese military companies is a warning to American businesses, all levels of government, and the American people,” said Moolenaar in a statement.
“These Chinese companies are working with the Chinese military against our national interests. Any of them that are publicly traded on U.S. exchanges should be immediately delisted, and their products should be removed from supply chains our country depends on,” Moolenaar added. “American companies must stop doing business with these threats to our national security; otherwise they are enabling China’s military ascendance. Additionally, thanks to the bipartisan BIOSECURE Act that was signed into law in December, Americans’ medical data will be protected from BGI and Wuxi Apptec, two malicious Chinese biotech companies that enable the PLA’s biological experimentation.”
No Sanctions
The designations won’t mean that the companies could face sanctions, but the Pentagon is prohibited from contracting directly with the listed companies beginning this month. In addition, the Department will be barred from procuring any products or services from the companies via third parties beginning a year from now in June 2027.
The additions to the list come just a month after President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, where the leaders agreed to a trade truce and closer ties.
The Pentagon had actually published a similar expanded list in February only to withdraw it as Trump’s China trip was pending, before being delayed to the conflict with Iran. The new list includes companies that Washington has designated as “military-civil fusion” contributors with ties to Beijing’s industrial base, and ties to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
“All Chinese companies are linked to the Chinese government,” explained technology industry Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.
However, he told ClearanceJobs that this is still a gray area in how they operate with Beijing.
“The PLA owns some,” Entner added. “It’s a very arbitrary line, but none of them are not following orders by the Chinese government.”
The Golden Dome At Play
Even as the meeting between Trump and Xi had signaled a thaw in U.S.-Chinese relations, the release of this list and the banning of the Chinese firms by the DOW could cool the relationship again. That is part of the reality of Trump’s America First agenda, but it could be more closely related to the planned Golden Dome for America missile defense program, which is now moving forward.
With so many contractors and subcontractors involved in the Golden Dome, Washington cannot risk infiltration via Chinese hardware used by a supplier to a subcontractor.
“It is most likely in response to the Golden Dome,” suggested Col. William Dunn, United States Marine Corps (Retired). “We cannot have any companies related to Chinese military participating in the building of the dome. China often has multiple layered shell companies the look like legitimate businesses but are tied indirectly to them.”
Washington Calls for NATO to Take Off Ramp on Huawei
The release of the 1260H List also came as it was reported that U.S. State Department’s China coordinator, Joshua Young, told NATO officials in Brussels last month that alliance members should replace Huawei-made equipment.
At last year’s NATO alliance meeting, members—with the exception of Spain—agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product, with 3.5% to be directed towards core military requirements, with the remaining 1.5% going towards “defense-adjacent” programs. Washington has indicated that this should include the security of computer networks.
The European Union has already labeled Huawei and ZTE, another major Chinese tech firm, as “high-risk suppliers.” It has pushed for tighter oversight via an update to Europe’s Cybersecurity Act.
