Beijing, May 2026 — China has strongly denied accusations from Washington that Chinese entities are engaged in systematic, “industrial-scale” theft of American artificial intelligence technology, dismissing the claims as politically motivated and without foundation.
The controversy erupted on April 23, 2026, when the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a memo detailing alleged campaigns by foreign actors, primarily from China, to extract and repurpose advanced U.S. AI capabilities. The document, issued under OSTP Director Michael Kratsios, highlighted “distillation attacks” in which adversaries use millions of interactions with frontier American models—often through proxy accounts and jailbreaking techniques—to train smaller, more efficient Chinese models.
U.S. officials described the effort as coordinated and large-scale, involving tens of thousands of proxy accounts designed to bypass safeguards and siphon intellectual property without incurring the enormous research and development costs borne by American companies. The memo came ahead of a planned summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and forms part of broader American concerns over intellectual property theft and technological competition.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters at a regular briefing on April 24-25 that the U.S. allegations were “entirely baseless” and constituted a “slanderous smear” against China’s AI industry.
“China firmly opposes this,” Guo said, urging Washington to “abandon prejudice,” cease “technological containment and suppression,” and instead promote normal exchanges and cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington echoed the rejection, describing the claims as “pure slander” and asserting that China’s rapid progress in AI stems from its own innovation, hard work, and legitimate international collaboration while maintaining strong protections for intellectual property.
The exchange reflects longstanding and deepening tensions between the world’s two leading AI powers. For years, the United States has accused China of corporate espionage, forced technology transfers, and state-backed intellectual property theft, citing specific cases involving Chinese AI models. Beijing has consistently rejected these charges, framing U.S. measures—such as export controls on advanced chips and restrictions on talent flows—as protectionist attempts to hinder China’s legitimate technological development.
While the latest U.S. memo promises closer coordination with American AI firms (including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google) to share threat intelligence and strengthen defenses, no immediate new sanctions were announced. Analysts note that the timing, just before high-level diplomatic talks, underscores how AI has become a central arena in U.S.-China strategic rivalry.
Both nations publicly emphasize the importance of innovation and responsible competition, yet mutual suspicions continue to drive parallel efforts toward technological self-reliance and tighter controls on critical AI resources. The dispute is likely to remain a flashpoint in bilateral relations in the months ahead.
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