WASHINGTON: The US Protection Division mentioned on Monday (Jan 6) it had added Chinese language tech giants together with gaming and social media chief Tencent Holdings and battery maker CATL to an inventory of corporations it says work with China’s navy.
The record additionally included chip maker Changxin Reminiscence Applied sciences, Quectel Wi-fi and drone maker Autel Robotics, in keeping with a doc printed on Monday.
The yearly up to date record of Chinese language navy corporations, formally mandated beneath US regulation because the “Part 1260H record,” designated 134 corporations, in keeping with a discover posted to the Federal Register.
The Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent fell as a lot as 7 per cent in early commerce, whereas the US-traded shares of the corporate, which can be the dad or mum of Chinese language on the spot messaging app WeChat, fell 8 per cent in over-the-counter buying and selling.
Tencent mentioned in a press release that its inclusion on the record was “clearly a mistake”. It added: “We aren’t a navy firm or provider. Not like sanctions or export controls, this itemizing has no impression on our enterprise.”
CATL, the world’s largest electrical car battery maker whose Shenzhen-listed shares dropped greater than 5 per cent, additionally referred to as the designation a mistake, saying it “just isn’t engaged in any military-related actions”.
A Quectel spokesperson mentioned the corporate “doesn’t work with the navy in any nation and can ask the Pentagon to rethink its designation, which clearly has been made in error”. Quectel’s shares fell almost 7 per cent.
The opposite corporations and the Chinese language embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
IMPACT ON COMPANIES
The up to date record is one among quite a few actions taken by Washington lately to focus on and prohibit Chinese language corporations it says pose safety dangers, weighing on strained relations between the world’s two greatest economies.
Jefferies mentioned in a analysis word the aim of the Chinese language Army Firms (CMC) record was to specific the opinion of the Protection Division which might function a reference for different authorities departments.
“Essentially the most severe consequence for CMC corporations is US funding ban, however it’s all as much as Trump and his group.”