After the US Department of Homeland Security ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and halt procurement, China's Global Times argued in a 21st editorial that the move lacks evidence. Washington cites national security; Beijing says technology and trade should not be politicized.
According to TechCrunch, the Department of Homeland Security on the 20th (US time) published in the Federal Register an order barring federal civilian executive agencies from buying DeepSeek products and requiring removal of existing ones from government IT systems. It also covers third-party products and services built on DeepSeek technology, and agencies may request exceptions. No deadline was reported.
광고 문의 · 300×250The US rationale is national security. TechCrunch said DHS warned that, given DeepSeek's operations in China, sensitive information from US government users could be accessible to Chinese authorities under Chinese law. A law passed last December already restricted DeepSeek in intelligence and national-security systems, and this order extends the limits to civilian agencies. A September US government report alleging ‘distillation’ by DeepSeek and other Chinese AI firms is also cited as background.
Beijing and the Global Times respond
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on the 20th that China opposes overstretching the concept of national security and politicizing technology and trade, and will resolutely safeguard Chinese firms' legitimate rights. The Global Times said the Ministry of Commerce also firmly opposes the US federal procurement exclusion and removal order against Chinese companies; this paper could not verify the ministry's full statement.
In its 21st editorial, ‘Washington Futilely Watches DeepSeek's Taillights and Writes Fines’, the Global Times argued that the DHS list rests on assumptions that data ‘may’ flow to China or models ‘may’ carry malware, with no concrete evidence. It said a new DeepSeek model topped an open-source coding leaderboard ahead of closed US models two days before the ban, though this paper could not independently verify the ranking or score. The editorial called blocking open ecosystems in the name of security self-contradictory and urged implementation of the AI dialogue agreed by the two leaders. Some dates in the editorial are inconsistent, so this paper uses TechCrunch for the date of the US announcement.
Both sides speak of AI competition and the need for dialogue at once, and how the order will affect later talks is not yet known. TechCrunch, citing Bloomberg, said China is weighing export controls on 23 AI-related technologies, including chip designs and some advanced AI models; this paper could not confirm that.