Shares in Naspers fell by more than 10% on the JSE on Tuesday after news emerged that the US defence department had designated China’s Tencent as a military company operating in the US.

Naspers, through its European-listed spin-off Prosus, holds about a quarter of Tencent.

Various global media outlets reported on Tuesday, after markets closed in Johannesburg, that the US department of defence had labelled Tencent – and several other companies – as Chinese military entities in a “Federal Register” filing.

Companies on the Chinese military list face delisting from US exchanges and deletion from global benchmark indexes, Bloomberg News reported.

The Chinese government told BBC News that the decision by the department of defence amounted to “unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies”.

According to the BBC, the defence department’s list of military companies – formally known as the “section 1260H list” – is updated annually and now includes 134 firms.

Tencent told the BBC that it’s inclusion on the list was “clearly a mistake”.

“We are not a military company or supplier. Unlike sanctions or export controls, this listing has no impact on our business,” a spokesman reportedly said.