Shortly before the transfer of power to Donald Trump, the US Department of Defense blacklisted two major Chinese companies for alleged ties to the Chinese military.
Both game producer Tencent and car battery maker CATL deny the link.
The Pentagon’s blacklist does not impose specific sanctions, but it does damage its reputation and is intended to discourage American companies from doing business with it.
The addition of giants such as Tencent and CATL threatens further to increase tensions between the United States and China.
Tencent is one of the world’s largest gaming companies and owns the ubiquitous app WeChat in China. CATL is one of the largest producers of batteries for electric cars.
It is a major supplier to Tesla, the company of billionaire Elon Musk. European brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen are also customers.
