Beijing, China - China condemned the US as "discriminatory" in response to Washington's decision to designate and blacklist BYD, Alibaba, and Baidu as "Chinese military companies."

The Pentagon has added a vast assortment of companies to its "Chinese military companies" list, barring them from consideration for US defense contracts and inclusion in vital supply chains.

To be included, companies must carry out some of their operations within the US and be found to contribute to China's "military civil fusion." The list's latest yearly update boosts the number of banned firms to 188, up from 134.

According to the list, Alibaba, BYD, and Baidu have been sanctioned due to their associations with China's Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

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"Any of them that are publicly traded on US exchanges should be immediately delisted and their products should be removed from supply chains our country depends on," said Select Committee on China chairman and GOP Congressman John Moolenaar in a statement.

"American companies must stop doing business with these threats to our national security, otherwise they are enabling China’s military ascendance."

In a statement cited by Al Jazeera, China's embassy in Washington DC condemned the latest listing as "discriminatory."

"Chinese companies that do business overseas have been strictly observing laws and regulations of their host countries," a spokesperson said, accusing the US of governmental overreach.

"The US should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies."

Alibaba also rejected the listing, insisting it is "not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy."

"We will take all available legal action against attempts to misrepresent our company," an Alibaba spokesperson said in a statement.