China accuses Washington of politicising technology after the Trump administration bans DeepSeek AI from federal agencies

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning vowed Beijing would 'resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies'. The Department of Homeland Security order, drafted in July and released publicly on Monday, requires civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products from their IT systems. Officials warned that the firm's China-based servers could expose sensitive data to Beijing. The dispute comes weeks before Trump is due to meet Xi Jinping in November.

Homeland Security warned DeepSeek may track and fingerprint users, and that its models could contain malware.

The ban also covers third-party tools built on DeepSeek, but it does not apply to the military.

Washington accuses DeepSeek of systematically stealing capabilities from American AI rivals.