The US Department of Defense on Monday added three Chinese tech giants to its list of companies suspected of collaborating with the Chinese military. Alibaba, the e-commerce specialist; Baidu, China's dominant search engine; and BYD, the world's leading electric vehicle manufacturer, are now included on the list of companies deemed to have ties to the Chinese armed forces. This decision by the Pentagon comes amid ongoing trade and technology tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Artificial intelligence at the heart of concerns
Artificial intelligence is a major focus of this American surveillance. Alibaba and Baidu, both involved in developing AI technologies, join Tencent, the social media and video game giant, on this list, which was already flagged in a previous update. The US government fears that these technological advances could directly benefit Chinese military capabilities, an accusation regularly rejected by the targeted companies and the authorities in Beijing.
Future commercial consequences
This administrative registration does not entail immediate sanctions but increases the regulatory pressure on these groups. It could nevertheless complicate their business relationships with American partners and damage their image among Western investors. BYD, which is experiencing rapid expansion in international markets, risks seeing its ambitions hampered in the United States, where distrust of Chinese companies has increased considerably in recent years.
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