China says US DeepSeek ban disregards Xi-Trump consensus

BEIJING - China’s commerce ministry has strongly condemned a recent U.S. government decision to ban the Chinese AI model DeepSeek from federal agency IT systems, claiming the move harms Chinese firms and contradicts a consensus reached between the two nations’ leaders. The ministry has called on the U.S. to "immediately rectify wrong practices and revoke discriminatory and restrictive measures," warning that Beijing will closely monitor the situation and take necessary actions to protect its interests.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department issued the directive on Monday, ordering the removal of DeepSeek products and third-party services utilizing the Chinese AI model from civilian federal agency IT systems, as well as prohibiting agencies from acquiring DeepSeek products or third-party services developed using the model. The U.S. asserts that DeepSeek models present "multiple threat vectors" and raises concerns that their usage could lead to sensitive data transfers to China if employed by U.S. government employees or vendors.

China expresses "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to the order, emphasizing that it hopes the U.S. will adhere to the consensus between the leaders, collaborate in the same direction, and fully leverage the China-U.S. artificial intelligence dialogue mechanism.