China’s Tencent has issued a statement in response to the removal of its popular messaging app, WeChat, from the U.S. "Notorious Markets List."

The company said, “It is clearly a mistake for Tencent to be included on this list. We are neither a military enterprise nor a military supplier... Tencent will work with the relevant U.S. authorities to resolve this misunderstanding.”

Tencent has repeatedly opposed WeChat’s inclusion on this list, stressing to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) that the company has long been a global leader in supporting robust intellectual property systems. Tencent also highlighted its significant investments in IP protection and ongoing collaboration with international partners to advance intellectual property rights.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun also strongly condemned the U.S. for “creating various discriminatory lists to unjustifiably suppress Chinese companies,” and stated that China would “take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.”

The "Notorious Markets List" is designed to identify large-scale online and physical markets involved in piracy and trademark counterfeiting. However, in practice, it has often been used to target prominent Chinese enterprises and their products.

The CMC List was established by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)under Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. As per the legislation, the DoD and its contractors are prohibited from engaging in commercial, service, or technical cooperation with entities on the CMC list. 
However, the list’s primary purpose is one of “naming and shaming.”

Recently, the DoD added more than 100 Chinese companies to its Section 1260H List (also known as the CMC List), covering sectors such as aerospace, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, drones, information and communication technology, construction, energy, and biotechnology.