Abstract:
According to Bloomberg, Alibaba Group won a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Defense’s blacklist. On Monday local time, a federal judge in San Jose, California, ordered the Trump administration to stop enforcing an injunction that prohibits the Pentagon from doing business with any company that engages in "lobbying activities" for Alibaba.
Alibaba
Bloomberg reported that this provision effectively forces lobbyists to choose between listed Chinese companies and U.S. defense contractors. After the restrictions were introduced, some influential lobbying firms in Washington began cutting ties with Chinese technology giants such as Alibaba and Tencent.
However, the judge did not rule on Alibaba's challenge to being included on the Pentagon's blacklist.
According to a previous report by the Global Times, Alibaba filed a lawsuit in the federal court in San Jose, California, requesting that the company be removed from the "List of Chinese Military Enterprises." Alibaba told the Global Times that the company is not a Chinese military enterprise and has not participated in any "military-civilian integration" strategy. The decision to include the company on the list lacks factual basis.
Alibaba stated in the indictment that the US Department of Defense neither provided sufficient evidence nor gave a reasonable explanation when making the listing decision. The company has communicated with the US about this determination and submitted written materials, but the US Department of Defense has not responded.
On June 8, the U.S. Department of Defense updated the "List of Chinese Military Enterprises" to include Alibaba, Baidu, BYD and other Chinese companies. Alibaba later issued a statement that it believed the decision was wrong and said it would take feasible legal action.
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