Kathmandu. China on Monday urged the United States not to defame and threaten Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) companies with sanctions. The spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce made this remark in response to reports that some senior US officials have publicly called for investigation into the alleged 'use' of advanced US models by Chinese AI companies and could impose sanctions on them based on alleged 'theft of American intellectual property'.China has always opposed the US practice of politicizing and instrumentalizing science-technology, economic and trade issues, and has been defaming and sanctioning Chinese companies on all sorts of baseless pretexts.