Updated 2026-07-26 · Guide

How to Call Chinese AI Models from the US / EU

Official China endpoints often require local phone/KYC. A global OpenAI-compatible gateway is the practical path for US/EU teams.

Direct answer

Use an OpenAI-compatible international API gateway (e.g. ChinaModelAPI): sign up globally, top up with USDT, set base_url to the gateway, and call model IDs like qwen-plus, deepseek-v3, deepseek-r1, seedance-2.0.

4-step setup

Create account on chinamodelapi.com (no CN phone required)
Top up USDT and create an API key
Point the OpenAI SDK at https://api.chinamodelapi.com/v1
Pick model IDs per task (chat vs reasoning vs video)

Compliance & ops notes

Treat model choice like any third-party subprocessors — document data flows
Do not send secrets/PII you would not send to other cloud LLMs
Prefer regional logging + redaction in your app layer
Keep an offline eval to detect quality regressions when models update

cURL smoke test

curl https://api.chinamodelapi.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"deepseek-v3","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"ping"}]}'

FAQ

Can US developers use DeepSeek API legally?

Teams commonly access third-party hosted APIs under their own vendor terms. Review ChinaModelAPI terms and your company policy; this page is technical guidance, not legal advice.