China's Crackdown: Xi Jinping Bans Western-Made Applications
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Chinese government has officially banned the use of OpenClaw software within government agencies and state-owned enterprises. According to Bloomberg News, government agencies and state-owned enterprises, including major Chinese banks, have received warnings not to install OpenClaw on office devices citing national security concerns.
OpenClaw is an artificial intelligence agent founded by Peter Steinberger, an Austrian entrepreneur. On 14 February 2026, Steinberger announced joining OpenAI to bring advanced AI agents to everyone, stating that OpenClaw would remain an independent company.
OpenClaw went viral for providing open-source AI designed to perform real tasks, rather than simply answering text-based user prompts. It can be used to manage emails, book tickets, schedule appointments, monitor messages, and automate various other tasks. The service uses large language models (LLMs) that can be installed independently due to their open-source nature.
With its advanced capabilities, OpenClaw effectively allows one person to perform the work of several simultaneously, giving rise to the phenomenon of “one-person companies”. This characteristic has prompted some local Chinese governments to announce measures to develop industries around OpenClaw, although regulators have warned of security risks associated with access to personal data.
Since its emergence in November 2025, OpenClaw has become one of the fastest-growing projects in GitHub history, the world’s most widely adopted AI-based developer platform. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was reported to have hired Steinberger to build the next generation of AI agents partly due to OpenClaw’s innovation.
OpenClaw’s popularity has been most rapid in China, given the country’s tendency to adopt cutting-edge technology quickly. Technology giant Tencent recently held a special OpenClaw session in Shenzhen that attracted considerable enthusiasm from children, retirees, and developers.
Longgang District in Shenzhen, which established China’s first AI and robotics bureau last year, released concrete policy proposals in early March to build an AI ecosystem centred on OpenClaw and support “one-person companies”, citing recent central government reports supporting future industries such as humanoid robots.
High-tech development zones in Wuxi and Hefei in eastern China, along with Suzhou, a major manufacturing city, all published similar policy proposals focused on OpenClaw in recent days.
The rising popularity of OpenClaw and “one-person companies” has been highlighted in the National People’s Congress (NPC). Zhang Xiaohong, a delegate from Jiangsu Province and Communist Party secretary of Soochow University, told Reuters that initiatives such as campus competitions to identify the best “one-person companies” created by students have promoted practical AI skills.
However, regulators and state media have highlighted security concerns surrounding the agent. The central government has underscored Beijing’s longstanding discomfort with cyber risks and data breaches.
Wuxi’s regulations stipulate that cloud platforms providing OpenClaw must prohibit access to sensitive data directories and should consider establishing AI compliance service centres focusing on issues such as cross-border data transfer and intellectual property protection.
Despite the earlier enthusiasm, the central government’s decision to ban OpenClaw from government and state-owned enterprise environments again demonstrates China’s consistent tendency to view Western applications with suspicion, particularly regarding privacy and national security.