October 20, 2026
On Tuesday, China escalated its objection to the US decision to ban the use of DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence tools in civilian government agencies, considering that Washington intends to expand the concept of national security and employ it to serve trade and technological disputes between the two countries.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that Beijing constantly opposes overextending the concept of national security and politicizing issues of science, technology, economy and trade, stressing her country’s commitment to defending the legitimate rights and interests of its companies.
The Chinese position comes in response to a notice issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, on Monday, which stipulated the necessity of removing “DeepSeek” products and its subsidiaries, in addition to any services and tools developed by other parties using its technologies, from the information systems of civilian government agencies, in addition to prohibiting their purchase, noting that the measure dates back to late July.
The US administration based its move on security concerns, noting that the presence of the company’s servers in China may give Chinese authorities access to the infrastructure of US companies and sensitive data. On the other hand, DeepSeek did not issue any immediate comment on this decision.
“DeepSeek” is one of the most prominent artificial intelligence development companies in China, and has achieved wide spread thanks to its open source models that are available for use in several countries, including the United States, and are often free.
This dispute falls within the escalating context of bilateral competition for leadership in the artificial intelligence sector. The United States accuses Chinese companies, including DeepSeek, of extracting capabilities from advanced American models, accusations that Beijing rejects outright.
At the regulatory level, Washington continues to impose strict restrictions that deny China access to the latest artificial intelligence chips and the equipment needed to manufacture them, while Beijing responded by putting forward proposed plans to restrict the export of some of its advanced models in this field.
Despite these tensions, the two countries have made limited progress in the areas of artificial intelligence governance, including a US proposal to launch a special channel for reporting incidents related to national security. The artificial intelligence issue is expected to be at the forefront of the upcoming summit discussions between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for mid-November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
