China criticised the US' recent ban on Chinese AI model DeepSeek from government agency IT systems saying it goes against "important consensus" reached between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.
China's commerce ministry stated that the decision hurts Chinese firms' interests, and interferes with normal commercial cooperation. In a statement, quoted by Reuters, it urged the US to "immediately correct wrong practices ... and revoke relevant discriminatory restrictions." China is "strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes" the order, it said.
Earlier, the foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning had said that China will “will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies”.
“China consistently opposes the overstretching of the concept of national security and the politicizing of science, technology, economic and trade issues,” she told reporters.
The development follows a directive by the US Department of Homeland Security ordering federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and third-party services using the Chinese AI model from their IT systems. According to a notice published Monday, the department also prohibited agencies from acquiring such products and services, citing security risks. DHS warned that DeepSeek models posed "multiple threat vectors" and raised concerns that their use by government employees or vendors could expose sensitive data to China.