China rejected U.S. claims that its AI companies extract capabilities from American models through a process known as “distillation,” dismissing the allegation as “misguided and counterproductive.” Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin made the remarks at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, without naming the United States, after Anthropic and other firms raised concerns about rivals using distillation techniques. President Xi Jinping also urged an open approach to technology development, warning against AI becoming a “solo performance” by any one country. China’s pushback argues cooperation should outweigh restriction