China's Commerce Ministry hits back at the US DeepSeek federal ban and the trade-secret sanctions on MiraclePlus and Zhisuan, vowing 'necessary measures' but naming no countermeasures yet

Why it matters

【Key points】

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued two spokesperson statements on the evening of Oct 20, answering two US measures against Chinese AI firms taken the day before.

1. At 21:17 Beijing time (13:17 UTC), on the US DHS order removing DeepSeek and affiliated products from federal civilian agencies and barring future purchases: China is "strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed", calls it an over-broad use of national security to suppress Chinese firms that disrupts normal US-China AI business, urges the US to revoke the measures and to "make good use of the China-US AI dialogue mechanism", and says it will take "all necessary measures" against anything that substantively harms its interests.

2. At 21:57 (13:57 UTC), on US sanctions under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act against five Chinese entities (including MiraclePlus and Zhisuan) over alleged trade-secret theft: China "firmly opposes" them, says Chinese AI progress comes from long-term research and investment and "has nothing to do with" trade-secret theft, and warns it will respond with "necessary measures" if the US does not correct course.

3. Neither statement announces a specific countermeasure.

【Verifiable】

On the DeepSeek order: https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/xwfb/xwfyrth/art/2026/art_2f92a22be4324ec6bc566e4ccdb77436.html

On the sanctions: https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/xwfb/xwfyrth/art/2026/art_7db82f11ad1d414489f3766143f032bb.html

【Our read】

1. This is Beijing's first official response to both Oct 19 US measures: strong words, no concrete retaliation yet.

2. The DeepSeek statement points to the bilateral AI dialogue channel, a sign China still wants the dispute handled through talks.

3. Watch whether MOFCOM reaches for its unreliable entity list or export controls; China already proposed export controls on 23 AI technologies in mid-October.