BEIJING, June 9 -- The Chinese government made clear on Tuesday that it has no intention of accepting Washington's latest attempt to define which of its companies belong to the military, even as the two countries are barely a month removed from a summit between their leaders built around the promise of stability.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian, responding to questions at a regular press briefing, said China "consistently and firmly opposes" the United States expanding the concept of national security as a pretext for targeting Chinese businesses. His remarks came one day after the Pentagon published an updated 1260H list that now names 188 companies the Defense Department considers affiliated with China's military-civil fusion strat...