China’s Big Government ❤️ Big Tech

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

The government is trying to stimulate the internet platform economy: The People’s Daily’s front page today highlights a meeting yesterday between premier Lǐ Qiáng 李强 and executives from Meituan, Xiaohongshu, Alibaba Cloud, and several other large tech companies (English summary here).

More from Chinese state media:

• The People’s Daily also highlights a story on military awards that Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 gave to “two outstanding military units and two individuals” (English translation here).
• Xinhua News Agency’s top story today is about the “four full respects” for other countries that Xi says represents Chinese diplomacy, and China’s “cultural gene” for promoting world harmony.

China finalized its official rules to govern generative artificial intelligence (AI), becoming the first country to release such guidelines to regulate the advanced technology such as ChatGPT.

The rules, announced (in Chinese) today by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), will go into effect on August 15. They will require generative AI services to obtain a license in order to operate, and also stipulate that platform providers must carry out a security review.

However, the rules will only apply to generative AI services that are available to the general public in China, rather than services being developed in places like research institutions. Foreign providers of generative AI tools for Chinese residents must also comply with the set of rules, but Chinese-developed ones that serve only overseas users will not be subject to the guidelines.

China’s exports fell by 12.4% in June compared to a year earlier to $285.32 billion, according to data released today by China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC). Imports also fell by 6.8% over the same period, data showed.

The drop in exports marks the second successive decline caused by falling global demand, and the latest sign the country’s economic recovery is struggling. Foreign direct investment in China also fell to $20 billion in the first quarter compared to $100 billion a year earlier, according to an analysis by research firm Rhodium Group per the Wall Street Journal.

Dǒng Yúnhǔ 董云虎, the Party chief and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, has been placed under investigation by the Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced on Wednesday.

Dong is suspected of “serious violation of law and discipline” — a common euphemism for corruption — according to the brief statement, becoming the highest-ranking official to be probed in nearly a year.