Pentagon's Botched Alibaba-Baidu Blacklist Exposes China Policy Chaos
A mishandled February blacklisting of Alibaba and Baidu revealed deep internal conflicts over the administration's China strategy.
The Pentagon fumbled a blacklisting of Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Baidu back in February, and the fallout is revealing. The botched move has pulled back the curtain on a Trump administration that can't get its own house in order when it comes to Beijing.
The blacklisting — targeting two of China's most prominent tech companies — was apparently mishandled badly enough to expose serious internal disagreements about how aggressively to confront Chinese tech power. Different factions within the administration appear to be pulling in opposite directions.
It's a rare window into the messy reality of U.S.-China tech policy. When the Pentagon moves to restrict major players like Alibaba and Baidu, coordination matters. Without it, you get confusion, mixed signals, and a strategy that undermines itself.
The episode underscores just how fractured the administration's approach to China remains — even on high-stakes national security decisions.