The U.S. Department of Defense has added Tencent, a major Chinese tech firm, to its list of companies with alleged ties to China’s military. Tencent is well-known for its popular messaging app, WeChat, and has significant investments in the gaming industry. Tencent owns Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends, along with Inflexion Games, Funcom, and Sharkmob. They also hold stakes in companies such as Epic Games and Ubisoft.
What does this mean moving forward for Tencent though? Well this could complicate its business of operations within the United States as well as affect its reputation among its American partners and consumers. The designation list originated from an executive order issued back in 2020 by US president-elect Donald Trump, which plans to counter China’s “military-civil fusion” policy and prevent US companies from investing in firms allegedly linked to the Chinese military.
Tencent has responded back to the inclusion on the list stating that it was a “mistake.” Danny Marti, spokesperson for Tencent, has also responded claiming that “We are not a military company or supplier.” Tencent also released a further statement in regards to the decision made by the U.S. Department of Defense:
“As the company is neither a Chinese military company nor a military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base, it believes that its inclusion in the CMC List is a mistake. Unlike other lists maintained by the U.S. Government for sanctions or export control measures, inclusion in the CMC List relates only to U.S. defense procurement, which does not affect the business of the Group.”
Tencent confirmed that it “intends to initiate a Reconsideration Process to correct this mistake” and undertake legal proceedings to remove the Company from the CMC List” if the latter is deemed “necessary.” “The company will make further announcement(s) as and when appropriate,” it concluded.
Source: GameIndustry.biz