As the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology solicited public opinions on October 16 regarding the revision of the “List of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export in China”, which includes adjustments to 23 artificial intelligence technologies such as large models, agents, computing clusters, and information processing, it has attracted great attention across the industry. After the policy was released, there were initial doubts: Why would China, which has always emphasized high-level openness, impose “export restrictions” on AI technologies at this time? Does this indicate a shift in policy direction?
In response to these industry concerns, the latest developments provide a clear answer. It is reported that since the policy was made public for feedback, domestic leading large model companies such as DeepSeek and MiniMax have successfully completed the relevant registration procedures, and have also fulfilled the compliance processes for open source and overseas licensing.
From the statements made by the Ministry of Commerce in its related policy responses, it is clear that the official definition of “nothing to manage” includes more details than the explanation of “something to manage,” and the wording is also more specific and clear. This shows clearly that the core purpose of introducing the “Catalog” is to scientifically and precisely define the boundaries of technical regulation, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach that restricts AI technology’s normal export. On the premise of ensuring national security and compliance standards, our country is continuously creating clear and healthy policy space for enterprises to carry out standardized international technical cooperation and global open-source ecosystem development.