A US judge in California on July 5 temporarily blocked the Department of Defense from enforcing a lobbying restriction against Alibaba, letting the Chinese ecommerce and cloud company resume lobbying in the US while the court reviews its challenge to a Pentagon blacklist.

The order from the Northern District of California is not a final ruling in Alibaba’s lawsuit, which argues on constitutional grounds that the company should not be on the Section 1260H list.

Section 1260H requires the Pentagon to identify Chinese military companies operating directly or indirectly in the US.

The designation does not itself bar transactions, but it can lead to contracting, investment, and export-control consequences.

The National Defense Authorization Act bars the Defense Department from contracting with companies that use lobbyists who also represent companies on the Section 1260H list.

In June, the Pentagon said newly listed companies including Alibaba, Baidu, and BYD were affiliated with Chinese state bodies and designated them military-civil fusion contributors.

Alibaba has separately disclosed lobbying in Washington on trade, ecommerce, tech policy, and capital markets.

Baidu said it would use all options to seek removal from the list, while BYD said there was no justification for its inclusion.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post