US blacklist of China’s tech giants risks even faster decoupling

The Biden administration on Jan 7 added Tencent Holdings, the world’s largest gaming publisher, and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), a key battery supplier to Tesla, to its list of firms it says are working directly or indirectly with the People’s Liberation Army, or contributing significantly to China’s industrial base. The focus has shifted from “traditional” military contractors to include companies that develop tech products with potential military applications, according to Dylan Loh, assistant professor of politics at NTU in Singapore. It shows “the broadening ambit of national security,” Mr Loh said. “This is not just from the US but an arguably global one, where countries are increasingly securitising products, technologies in the name of national security.”

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