Alibaba Group Holding sued the U.S. Department of Defense to be removed from a blacklist that identifies the e-commerce leader as a supporter of the Chinese military, appealing to the U.S. justice system to avoid a designation the company says is arbitrary and unjustified.
The Hangzhou-based company argued in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the Pentagon added Alibaba to a list of companies that allegedly aid the People¡¯s Liberation Army without providing substantial evidence or explanation. The decision is a violation of constitutional due process and of the Chinese company¡¯s right to free speech, it said in the filing in federal court in San Jose, California.
The lawsuit came after the Department of Defense earlier this month accused several of China¡¯s biggest companies of aiding the PLA, including Alibaba, Baidu and BYD. Other Chinese companies included on the Pentagon¡¯s so-called 1260H list are chipmakers ChangXin Memory Technologies?and Yangtze Memory Technologies, as well as robotics developer Unitree Robotics ¡ª designated as Hangzhou Yushu Technology.
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