The US administration will reportedly investigate whether Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) models were "distilled from American models," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed on Tuesday, according to a CNBC report. A Chinese expert said that Bessent's remarks once again reflected the anxiety among certain US politicians over China's rapid advances in AI and their continued adherence to a technological hegemony mindset.

Bessent's remarks came as Chinese open-weight models are gaining steam against leading offerings from American companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, sparking concerns from tech executives and government officials about the durability of the US lead in the AI race, the CNBC reported.

Earlier this month, Moonshot AI, a Chinese AI startup, unveiled Kimi K3, a model with its overall intelligence level close to that of globally leading closed-source models as revealed by evaluations, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Bessent claimed in an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday that if the administration found overseas models are "stealing from US companies," it would have the ability to impose sanctions over the alleged move.

According to a Reuters' report on Tuesday, the US and China are planning to hold talks around AI in September.

Commenting on the latest claims from the US side, Chinese experts said that they once again showed that certain US officials, instead of focusing on strengthening their own innovation capabilities, have repeatedly sought to contain Chinese technology companies through political pressure, threats of sanctions, and groundless claims.

"Such actions cannot make the US more competitive in the field of AI. Rather, they will only complicate the global environment for technological cooperation, while reflecting the anxiety among certain US politicians over China's rapid advances in AI and their continued adherence to a technological hegemony mindset," Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

From DeepSeek V4 to the latest Kimi K3, a growing number of Chinese large language models have made significant advances across various evaluation benchmarks and capabilities.

Recently, after Kimi K3, an open-source AI model developed by Chinese startup Moonshot AI with 2.8 trillion parameters, attracted far more user traffic than expected following its launch last week, the company said on Sunday that it was facing growing computing capacity challenges. As a result, it decided to temporarily suspend new consumer subscriptions starting Sunday.

Zhou said that China's advances in AI are driven by broad market applications, sustained innovation, advanced infrastructure, well established supply chains, a robust industrial ecosystem, as well as the country's long-term commitment to supporting scientific and technological development. These advantages have also helped enhance China's appeal to global and domestic AI talent, the expert noted.

The global AI market offers enormous opportunities, and companies from all countries can achieve shared growth through fair competition, Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting that what truly drives industrial progress is innovation and the market, not political interference.

Even if the US imposes sanctions on Chinese AI companies, as it has done with many Chinese technology firms through restrictions on advanced chip exports and other unilateral measures, such actions are unlikely to achieve their intended effects, Xiang said. The expert noted that China's AI development does not rely solely on US computing resources, while US companies and developers also benefit from innovations, open-source models, and technological progress emerging from China's AI sector.

Last summer, the US Commerce Department circulated draft rules within the administration that would leverage its authority to secure domestic supply chains to target Chinese open-source models, US media outlet Axios reported, citing a source. However, administration officials concerned that regulation could stifle innovation blocked all those efforts. Since then, key voices, including former White House adviser Sriram Krishnan, have left the administration, while national security hawks have grown increasingly vocal, Axios reported.

China has now the largest number of AI patents, over 1.2 trillion yuan worth of core AI industry, and over 6,200 AI companies, making China an important world engine of smart transition.

Responding to a media inquiry for comment about a report released by the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2026, which noted that global AI development is exhibiting a pronounced "shift eastward" trend and that China has achieved full-chain industrial maturity with robust capabilities in large-scale deployment, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in March that AI is the common asset of humanity. The flourishing AI sector in China comes from greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and is fueled by China's vision of extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit, said Lin.

China encourages open source to make AI more accessible, the spokesperson said, noting that we stand ready to work with all sides to deepen communication and cooperation, and jointly build an open, inclusive and mutually beneficial environment for development, so that AI could truly become an international public good for good and for all.