Sen. Rick Scott Urges DoW Sec. Hegseth to Add Alibaba and Other Chinese Communist Party-Linked Companies to 1260H List

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, Senator Rick Scott sent a letter to Department of War (DoW) Secretary Pete Hegseth thanking him for his work with President Trump to put a stop to Communist China's continuous attempts to undermine critical U.S. national security infrastructure and collect the personal data of American citizens. In his letter, Senator Scott asked that the secretary continue these great efforts with the immediate addition of Communist China-based Alibaba Group Holding Limited and seven other Chinese companies with clear ties to the Chinese government and the Chinese People's Liberation Army to the DoW's 1260H list to make clear the United States will not support adversarial regimes.

Read the letter HERE or below:

Dear Secretary Hegseth:

I am writing to thank you and President Trump for your unparalleled commitment to the safety and security of the American people, especially regarding recent reports that Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA), Baidu Inc, BYD Co, and five other Chinese-based companies deserve inclusion on the Department of War (DoW)'s 1260H list of Chinese military companies. I support the Department of War's conclusion.

As Salt Typhoon and the recent F5 hack have shown us, Communist China will stop at nothing and leave no tool untouched to undermine our critical infrastructure. In 2017, officials from China's top internet regulator broadcast their goal to enhance the "global influence of internet companies like Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu [and] Huawei' and 'to push China's proposition of internet governance toward becoming an international consensus'." Beyond this, there is ample public evidence that these companies collude with and are connected to the People's Liberation Army (PLA), both directly and through China's civil-military fusion programs, and require immediate inclusion on the 1260H list.

Just last month, the Financial Times reported that a White House national security memo included intelligence on how Alibaba provides the PLA with capabilities that weaken our national security. Specifically, the memo referenced that Alibaba provided Xi and his military with sensitive customer data, including IP addresses, Wi-Fi information and payment records, AI-related services, and so-called "zero-day" software vulnerabilities. These descriptions alone appear to meet the statutory definition of a Chinese Military Company required for list inclusion, particularly as an entity engaged in "providing commercial services, manufacturing, producing, or exporting."

Additionally, Communist China's civil-military fusion program requires companies to share technology with the PLA, and Alibaba's alleged affiliation with the PLA highlights the extent of China's military-civil fusion project - including its use of e-commerce companies to gather personal data of American citizens.

Baidu's ties to Xi, the CCP, and the PLA are similarly alarming. In 2017, Baidu instituted internal Communist Party committees as part of broader corporate governance and "party-building." Earlier this year, members of Congress sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Chairman Paul Atkins warning that "Baidu Maps is embedded into the Integrated Joint Operations Platform used to surveil Uyghurs in Xinjiang…[Baidu has also] procured high-performance computing systems from Sugon, a Chinese military company sanctioned by the United States for aiding China's nuclear weapons program. Baidu was also selected to lead China's AI national laboratory eight years ago, and has a quantum research center with military-linked institutions. This PLA connection is especially concerning, given Baidu's artificial intelligence and advanced technology products with dual-use capabilities.

The DoW's assessment of BYD Co. as a Chinese military company is also well-founded. The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act already prevents the DoW from purchasing batteries from BYD beginning October 1, 2027 because of this connection. A 2019 report also indicates that BYD plays a significant role in China's military-civil fusion strategy and helps send advanced foreign technology back to Communist China, citing its cooperation with a PLA-linked weapons base, its research activities in military-civil fusion zones, national recognition for military-related collaboration, and close technological ties with Huawei. Similar claims have been made in Congressional hearings as well.

In May, the House Homeland Security Committee sent a letter to BYD North America and its U.S. brand, RIDE Mobility, asking for additional information on its corporate structure and whether BYD had ever been asked to comply with Communist China's National Intelligence Law, Data Security Law, or Cybersecurity Law, which would require the company to share sensitive personal data of millions of Americans with the CCP and PLA. Given the wide-ranging implications these laws could have on Americans' data and our national security, the DoW is absolutely correct to investigate and affirmatively conclude that BYD's inclusion on the 1260H list is warranted.

There is extensive, publicly available evidence that raises serious concerns regarding Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, and the five other reported PRC-based companies and their affiliations with the Chinese military. It is essential to our nation's security and the safety of American families that you add these companies to the Section 1260H list during your latest annual update, and that we keep these companies from encroaching on the lives and exploiting the data of American citizens. I urge you to work with the White House and other federal agencies to include these companies on the DoW blacklist in the coming weeks.

I thank you again for your steadfast leadership of the Department of War and your commitment to protecting Americans and our national security. I look forward to your timely response.

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