China Accuses US AI Firms Of Training On Chinese Models

China’s Commerce Ministry has fired back at Washington over its threats to sanction Chinese artificial intelligence companies, accusing American technology firms of doing exactly what the United States has accused Beijing of doing, and warning it would take all necessary measures to protect its interests.

In a statement released on Monday, the ministry urged the United States to halt what it described as smearing and threats of sanctions against Chinese artificial intelligence companies, saying Washington’s posture was unfair and hypocritical.

“Many US AI companies have distilled Chinese models during research, development, and training,” the ministry said, turning the intellectual property argument squarely back on Washington.

The ministry said China remained willing to engage in dialogue with the United States on the basis of mutual respect and equal footing but made clear it reserved the right to retaliate against any American actions that damaged Chinese interests.

The statement came days after United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to impose sanctions on Chinese open source artificial intelligence models, saying Washington would not tolerate intellectual property theft by Chinese firms.

American companies, including Anthropic, have separately accused Chinese AI developers of orchestrating large-scale efforts to extract capabilities from their systems by generating millions of exchanges to train rival models.

China also used the statement to renew its opposition to United States tariffs imposed on Chinese goods over alleged forced labour concerns, urging Washington to cancel the relevant unilateral measures.