The US Treasury has blocked an attempt by the Pentagon and state department to put some of China’s largest tech companies on a blacklist that would have banned US investors from holding their stock, reported the Financial Times.
The Pentagon and state department had pushed to add Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu to a list of Chinese companies that the defence department alleges has links to the Chinese military, said the FT.
“Removing the ‘Big 3’ from the Pentagon list of Chinese PLA-linked companies risks sending the message that concern over potential US investor losses supersedes the protection of vital American national security interests,” said Roger Robinson, a former US National Security Council official.
“That said, the overall use of highly effective capital markets sanctions against such PLA-affiliated Chinese enterprises is now established.”