On Wednesday, several news publications reported that the United States Department of Defense had released a list identifying 20 Chinese companies that have ties to the People’s Liberation Army of China, or the PLA.
The list includes some of China’s national champions, such as Huawei, which was added to the U.S. entity list in 2019, as well as state-owned giants that operate under China’s State Council, including China Mobile, China Telecom and China’s nuclear and shipbuilding giants. The Chinese government has not responded in detail to the recent list, but has said repeatedly that its companies are being unfairly targeted by the Trump administration.
Almost all of the companies on the new list, a copy of which was released by The Financial Times, are partially or completely state-owned enterprises, though some experts believe the definition of connections to the PLA employed in this case is notably broader than past interpretations. Adam Segal, an emergi