Latest Us Offensive Against China Risks Faster Technological Decoupling

The Biden administration on Monday added Tencent Holdings , the world's largest gaming publisher, and Contemporary Amperex Technology CATL , a key battery supplier to Tesla, to its list of "Chinese military companies" - firms it says are working directly or indirectly with the People's Liberation Army, or contributing significantly to China's industrial base.

Since the first list was put out in 2021, as mandated by a law passed in the waning days of Donald Trump's first term, it has expanded to 134 companies - including four of China's top 20 in terms of market capitalisation, which together are valued at almost US1-trillion.

While the list carries no specific sanctions, unlike the commerce department's Entity List, it still discourages US firms from dealing with its members and amounts to a reputational hit for the firms involved. More broadly, the rapid expansion of the register shows the extent to which lines are being blurred between military and civilian enterprises, and risks accelerating the bifurcation of supply chains if stronger measures are applied down the road.

It's an approach that risks backfiring on Washington, according to Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's former ambassador to the United Nations, who called the latest addition "unwise".

Although the list comes at the end of Joe Biden's term, one major proponent of tagging CATL and other major Chinese firms has been Marco Rubio, who is nominated to become the secretary of state in Trump's second term.