Beijing vows countermeasures after US bans DeepSeek from federal civilian agencies
Beijing vows 'all necessary measures' after DHS ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek and bar purchases, escalating the US-China AI dispute.
Beijing is promising to hit back. China's Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday it strongly opposes Washington's DeepSeek ban and will "take all necessary measures" to safeguard its interests, according to The Korea Times.
The trigger came Monday, October 20. The Department of Homeland Security ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products, and third-party products built using DeepSeek, from their IT systems, and barred them from buying any. DHS said DeepSeek models pose "multiple threat vectors" and raised concerns that sensitive US data could end up in China.
The ministry says the measures discriminate against Chinese AI companies under the pretext of national security and undermine fair competition. It urged the US to revoke them, said the ban disregards consensus reached by the two leaders, and called for full use of the China-US AI dialogue mechanism. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China opposes generalising national security concepts and politicising tech and trade issues.
The context: DeepSeek was already barred from official use at the Commerce Department, the Navy, DISA and NASA, and from government work in Texas, New York and Virginia. Also on Monday, the State Department sanctioned five Chinese entities over alleged AI trade secret theft.
My take? AI now has its own tariff-style standoff, complete with a dialogue mechanism Beijing wants Washington to use. The reporting does not specify Beijing's countermeasures. Keep your eyes on this one, darlings.
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Sources
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
The order reaches products developed using DeepSeek, yet the reporting gives no method for how an agency would identify them. A ban is only as sharp as its definition.
If you run anything federal that bundles an open-source DeepSeek model, start auditing your dependencies. The coverage gives no compliance deadline.
