On June 24, Reuters reported that Alibaba Group sued the U.S. government on Tuesday because the company was included in the so-called list of military-related companies by the United States. Ali has filed the lawsuit in federal court in San Jose, California. "These determinations have no factual or legal basis," Alibaba said. "Alibaba is governed by an independent board of directors, none of whose members have any military background. The company's products and services are oriented to the retail, logistics and enterprise information technology fields, not the weapons, defense or intelligence fields."


Alibaba

Alibaba said the decision to include it on the list was "arbitrary and capricious" and that the decision had caused irreparable damage to the company. "For many American companies, Alibaba is the main gateway into the Chinese market," Alibaba said. "Labeling Alibaba as a Chinese military-related enterprise is tantamount to characterizing it as a tool of the Chinese military and a threat to U.S. national security. This designation directly damages Alibaba's reputation and casts a shadow on the cooperative relationships the company maintains with U.S. parties."

Alibaba's lawsuit seeks to remove the company from the list.

A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment, saying the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

On June 8 this year, the U.S. military expanded the list of so-called Chinese military industrial enterprises to include Alibaba, Baidu, BYD and many other Chinese companies. Lin Jian, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that China has always been firmly opposed to the United States overextending its national security concept, setting up discriminatory lists of various categories, and unreasonably suppressing Chinese companies. We urge the United States to correct its wrong practices and stop its unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies. China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.

Alibaba issued an announcement on June 9 saying that the company believed that its inclusion in the list of Chinese military industrial enterprises was a mistake and that there was no basis for including Alibaba on the list. The company will take all available legal action against any attempt to distort the company's image.