US military surrenders in court fight with WuXi AppTec

The US military has removed mainland biotechnology company WuXi AppTec from its list of Chinese military companies, according to a government posting. The deputy secretary of defence made the determination on Monday in light of a federal court in Washington barring the department from enforcing the designation, the posting said. The ruling came in a lawsuit WuXi AppTec filed after the Pentagon added it to the list, saying its designation was arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by the facts and "the product of political pressure". The US military's headquarters at the Pentagon expanded its blacklist of alleged "Chinese military companies" on June 8 to 188 entities. "This decision relieves the company from further adverse consequences of the 1260H designation," WuXi AppTec said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse on Tuesday morning, referring to the list that is kept under section 1260H of a US defence law. "We remain committed to serving our customers and enabling the lifesaving and life-improving medicines they make for patients," the company added. (Reuters) Edited by Tony Sabine