Lobbying firm retains CCP military corporation
The article discusses how Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, the largest lobbying firm in the U.S.by revenue, continues to represent Tencent, a Chinese tech company recently added to the Pentagon’s list of entities associated with the Chinese military. Despite Tencent’s ancient ties with the Chinese government and the Pentagon’s designation,Brownstein has not terminated its lobbying relationship,nor have they filed any paperwork to do so. The article highlights the ongoing partnership between the firm and Tencent, even as the latter denies any allegations of military ties. Brownstein recently submitted a lobbying report that does not indicate any change in this relationship.
Top lobbying firm retains Tencent as client despite links to China
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, the largest lobbying firm by revenue in the United States, has yet to terminate its relationship with Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent nearly two weeks after the Defense Department designated it as a “Chinese military company,” public records show.
On Jan. 7, the Pentagon added Tencent to its list of entities that are either “directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or beneficially owned by” the Chinese military or that are “military-civil fusion contributor[s] to the Chinese defense industrial base.” Tencent, which has historically maintained close ties with the Chinese government, denies these allegations, and Brownstein, its U.S.-based lobbying partner has yet to file paperwork terminating the relationship between the two.
Brownstein filed its fourth-quarter lobbying report for Tencent on Monday with no indication that the firm had dropped the Chinese tech conglomerate as a client.
Federal lobbying disclosures show that Tencent paid Brownstein $800,000 in 2024 to monitor “developments regarding regulation of applications,” citing the importance of “international data and communications applications” to both Tencent as a whole and WeChat, a text-based messaging service that it owns.
WeChat engages in surveillance and censorship on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, according to Human Rights Watch. The Tencent-owned platform has, among other things, provided the Chinese government with information leading to the arrests of religious and political dissidents.
WeChat’s allegiance to the Chinese government is unsurprising given that Tencent co-founder and CEO Ma Huateng served two terms as part of the CCP-controlled National People’s Congress.
While the Pentagon’s 1260H list does not function as a formal sanction, a provision in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that takes effect in June 2026 would bar defense contractors from doing business with any lobbying firm representing Pentagon-designated Chinese military companies. This would block Brownstein from millions of dollars in lobbying contracts.
Even before the 2025 NDAA passed, some lobbying firms folded to pressure from lawmakers and dropped clients that had been labeled as Chinese military companies. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, the second-largest U.S. lobbying outfit by revenue, parted ways with Hesai Group in February 2024 amid rumors of congressional offices blacklisting lobbyists who worked with Chinese military companies. The Vogel Group, similarly, dropped drone manufacturer and Chinese military company DJI as a client around the same time. Even Brownstein dropped Hesai amid similar concerns in 2024.
Chinese military companies have attempted to exert considerable sway on U.S. policymaking, with such entities spending over $20 million on lobbying between 2020 and April 2024, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis.
Brownstein did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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