Chinese premier chairs meeting on AI development, foreign trade

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday chaired a State Council executive meeting, which heard reports on artificial intelligence (AI) development, and reviewed the current foreign trade situation and related work on building China into a trading powerhouse.

The meeting also approved an action plan for carbon peaking and a national health plan during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030).

On AI, the meeting stressed the need to gain a deep understanding of the technology's evolving trend, improve supportive policies and governance system, and firmly grasp the initiative in development.

It called for breakthroughs in innovation, faster progress in key technologies and hyper-scale intelligent computing clusters, stronger high-quality data supply, and better access to talent and funding to support enterprises in basic research and frontier exploration.

Leveraging China's complete industrial system and rich application scenarios, the meeting urged accelerated large-scale commercial deployment of intelligent products and services.

It also called for upholding bottom line of safety for artificial intelligence and strengthening international cooperation on AI governance.

The meeting also underscored the need to step up support for both credit and credit insurance to maintain the good momentum of foreign trade.

It also called for expanding imports of high-quality goods and services, and promoting balanced growth of imports and exports.

The meeting highlighted the strategic guiding role of peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality in driving economic restructuring and fostering new green growth drivers.

Noting that accelerated advancement of the Healthy China Initiative has continued to improve public health, the meeting called for stronger coordination among medical services, insurance and disease control to deliver systematic, continuous, high-quality and efficient health services to the public.

Chinese premier chairs meeting on AI development, foreign trade

Chinese Premier Li Qiang emphasized advancing agricultural modernization and ensuring food security when making investigation in northeast China's Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces from Monday to Wednesday.

In Heilongjiang Province, Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited a state farm and observed the growth of soybean, corn, and rice crops. He stressed that autumn grain accounts for the bulk of annual output, calling for stepped-up farmland management and policy support to ensure grain harvest.

Visiting an agricultural science park and a rice research institute, Li asked about seed breeding innovation and black soil conservation, highlighting the importance of science and technology in pursuing higher yields and calling for further efforts in seed breeding, advanced machinery, and smart farming.

At a major water conservancy project, Li reviewed construction progress, urging faster completion to improve flood control, irrigation, and ecological benefits while supporting stable, high-yield harvests.

In Jilin Province, Li visited an agricultural cooperative and learned about its operations. He called for developing diverse forms of appropriately scaled agricultural operations and improving services for agriculture to help smallholders connect with modern agriculture.

At a grain processing plant, Li inspected a corn oil production line and called for boosting intensive processing of agricultural products to extend industrial chains and raise value.

Li also visited the Chagan Lake and learned about the ecological fisheries. He called for actively developing modern eco-aquaculture, promoting integrated development of the farming, forestry, livestock, and fishing industries as well as the development of eco-tourism.

Chinese premier stresses agricultural modernization, food security