Alibaba Leads Tech Selloff After Pentagon Briefly Blacklists Chinese Firms

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. led a Chinese tech-share selloff after the Pentagon briefly added it and other major Chinese firms to a military blacklist.
• The Pentagon's updated list, which included Alibaba, BYD Co., and Baidu Inc., was later declared "unpublished" minutes after its appearance on the US Federal Register.
• The move comes amid heightened tensions over China's tech policy, with the US alleging these companies aid China's military, a claim Alibaba and Baidu deny.
• While the 1260H designation has few immediate legal repercussions, it serves as a warning to US investors and can precede more punitive trade restrictions.
• Alibaba stated it is "not a Chinese military company" and will take legal action against misrepresentation; Baidu called its inclusion "entirely baseless."