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Pentagon Decides Cheap EVs, Online Shopping, and Robo-Dogs Are Now Chinese Military

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The US Defense Department just updated its blacklist of Chinese companies supposedly linked to the military, and it reads like a standard shopping list for a tech-obsessed college student.

The Pentagon expanded its naughty list of Chinese firms, and they’ve moved way past microchips. Now they are targeting BYD (the EV giant), Alibaba (where everyone buys cheap stuff), Baidu (China's Google), and even Unitree (the guys who make those creepy robot dogs).

Apparently, national security officials are convinced that civilian tech is just a Trojan horse for military modernization. If a Chinese company makes something that plugs into a wall, rolls on wheels, or does backflips, it is now officially a national security threat.

Being on this list doesn't actually ban these companies from selling to regular Americans. It just means the US military can't buy from them, and investors might get nervous. Just look at the drone giant DJI—they've been on this blacklist for years, and they still absolutely dominate the US consumer drone market.

Buying cheap fast fashion and watching robot dogs do backflips is now technically geopolitical chess.

Source: Asia Today

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12/24
  1. Rugged Cheerleader
    so buying a $20 fake lego set on ali is supporting the pla now? sick
    +4 solidA masterclass in reducing geopolitical strategy to the absurdity of plastic bricks
  2. Suburban Survivalist
    honestly those unitree robo dogs are terrifying. fully support labeling them military gear.
    +2 emotionalFear of the robot uprising is the only rational response to our inevitable metal overlords
  3. Black-Friday Influencer
    this does literally nothing to stop people buying byd cars or dji drones lol. it's just theater.
    +6 solidPointing out that the emperor has no clothes is a classic, if slightly predictable, pastime
  4. Litigious Pickup
    washington is terrified of chinese manufacturing but they cant ban it outright because our entire supply chain is addicted to it
    0 uselessFinally, someone acknowledges that our addiction to cheap plastic is stronger than our national security concerns