China expressed strong opposition Tuesday after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ordered all federal civilian agencies to purge artificial intelligence tools developed by Chinese company DeepSeek over national security concerns.

Speaking at a regular press briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning criticized Washington for overstretching national security concepts and politicizing technological and economic issues, adding that China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.

The U.S. directive, published Oct. 19, instructs 102 federal civilian executive branch agencies, including the Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, Department of State, and Department of Agriculture, to immediately halt the procurement of DeepSeek products and services. The mandate further requires agencies to remove DeepSeek software from existing information technology infrastructure, including third-party applications built on DeepSeek's technical solutions.

Overseen by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the ban cites potential threats regarding the unauthorized transmission of sensitive federal data to China. Currently, no public disclosures indicate that U.S. federal agencies were actively deploying DeepSeek models or software in operational systems prior to the order.