[Washington Examiner] More than two decades after a law was passed requiring it to do so, the Defense Department released a list of companies operating in the United States that the Pentagon believes are tied to the People’s Liberation Army, the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party.The list of 20 Chinese companies, including Huawei and Hikvision, was made public last week, and the designation by the Pentagon under the 1999 National Defense Authorization Act gives President Trump the power to invoke emergency economic powers granted to him under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, including sanctions, against the Chinese military-linked companies.
The Pentagon was required to create the list two decades ago, but last week marked the first time that it did so. The 1999 law, passed in part to make sure that China’s admission to the World Trade Organization did not give Chinese companies working for the PLA free rein in using access to the U.S. to build up China’s military strength, required the defense secretary to "make a determination of those persons operating directly or indirectly in the United States or any of its territories and possessions that are Communist Chinese military companies" and to "publish a list of those persons in the Federal Register." The Pentagon must also "make additions or deletions to the list ... on an ongoing basis based on the latest information available."