Alibaba sues Pentagon over China military blacklist

Chinese technology and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding has sued the US Department of Defence, seeking to be removed from a blacklist of companies deemed to support China’s military.

In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in a district court in San Jose, California, the Hangzhou-based company said the Pentagon had added Alibaba to a list of companies that allegedly aid the People’s Liberation Army without providing substantial evidence or explanation.

The Pentagon’s move violated constitutional due process and the company’s right to free speech, Alibaba said in the filing.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

On June 9, the Department of Defence added Alibaba, electric vehicle makers BYD and Nio, search engine Baidu, robot maker Unitree Robotics, networking equipment maker TP-Link and other Chinese companies in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and the solar sector to a list of “Chinese military companies”.

The companies are almost all in sectors at the heart of the intense technological competition between China and the US.