BEIJING — China’s premier delivered on Friday the clearest acknowledgment yet from a top Chinese official that the country’s economy is slowing and faces a series of difficulties.

Li Keqiang, who as premier is China’s second-highest official after President Xi Jinping, said at his annual news conference that the answer lay in cutting corporate taxes and deregulation, and not a return to the strategy during previous downturns of printing money and ramping up government spending. However, recently released economic data has suggested that the government is indeed turning to monetary expansion and heavy infrastructure investments in an effort to stabilize growth.

Mr. Li also became on Friday the most senior Chinese official to try to allay foreign worries that Chinese technology companies spy on other countries at Beijing’s request, saying that this has not happened and will not. He appeared to be addressing concerns that the United States and some of its allies have been raising about Huawei, the Chinese technology giant.

Mr. Li delivered his acknowledgment of the slowdown at an annual meeting with foreign and domestic reporters that the Chinese leadership often uses to outline its priorities to its people and the world. Mr. Li and past premiers have sometimes used the event to offer reassurances that Beijing is tackling problems in an orderly way.