China expands, upgrades service sector to share opportunities with world

People visit the 6th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian province, March 19, 2026. (Photo/Wang Wangwang)

A national conference on the service sector has recently been held in Beijing.

Against the backdrop of slowing global economic growth and profound shifts in global trade patterns, China is working to open new prospects for the high-quality development of its service sector.

This strategic push not only underpins China's own pursuit of high-quality economic growth but also presents substantial new opportunities for global cooperation within the service sector.

A series of high-level policy initiatives have been launched rapidly since the beginning of this year.

Notably, this year's Government Work Report proposed to "enhance the capacity and quality of the service sector" and "cultivate the 'China Services' brand." An executive meeting of the State Council called for expanding market access and the scope of opening up with a focus on the service sector. Most recently, the national service sector conference laid out systematic arrangements to upgrade the capacity and quality of the service sector.

These measures reflect both China's strategic alignment with fundamental economic development principles and its practical response to structural economic weaknesses. They will inject new vitality into China's drive to build a modern industrial system and promote high-quality growth.

As a vital component of the national economy, the development level of the service sector serves as a key indicator of a country's overall economic strength.

Impressive statistics illustrate China's steady service industry expansion. In 2025, the value added of China's service sector exceeded 80 trillion yuan ($11.71 trillion) for the first time, accounting for 57.7 percent of the country's GDP. The sector contributed 61.4 percent of economic growth and has remained the largest source of employment for more than a decade.

From thriving winter tourism and immersive travel experiences to grassroots sports events such as "village super league" and "city super league" football tournaments, the service sector continues to create new scenarios and stimulate fresh demand. Deeply integrated into daily life, it plays a critical role in industrial upgrading, meeting public needs, and expanding employment.

Foreign tourists visit a scenic area in Yixian county, Huangshan, east China's Anhui province. (Photo/Xu Jiadong)

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan(2026-2030), China's service sector is expected to surpass 100 trillion yuan in value, indicating substantial potential for further growth.

On a wider scale, the positive spillover effects of China's service sector expansion and upgrade are becoming increasingly prominent, strengthening the link between domestic and international circulations.

Two concrete examples highlight this trend.

First, in 2025, China received 35.17 million inbound foreign visits. The rising popularity of "China Travel" and "Shopping in China" has driven travel services to become the largest segment of China's service trade, accounting for more than a quarter of the total service trade volume.

Second, China's total service trade exceeded 8 trillion yuan in 2025. The service sector has become the main channel for absorbing foreign investment, accounting for over 70 percent of the country's total utilized foreign investment for several consecutive years.

Behind this transformation, from "selling products" to "delivering services," and from "expanding scale" to "improving quality," lies the rising level of China's opening up in the service sector.

In recent years, China has rolled out a series of initiatives to widen service sector access.

Foreign tourists buy cultural and creative products in a scenic area in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan province. (Photo/Wu Yongbing)

It has fully implemented a negative list for cross-border trade in services, accelerated comprehensive pilot programs for expanding opening up in the service sector, and further expanded pilot openings in fields such as value-added telecommunications, biotechnology, and wholly foreign-owned hospitals.

As a result, the breadth and depth of opening up in China's service sector have continued to expand. These efforts not only provide the world with a larger-scale service consumption market and attract high-quality foreign services to continuously deepen their roots in China, but also offer more diverse and competitive service supplies to share development opportunities and create growth space with other countries.

With services as a bridge and opening up as a bond, China's service sector is poised to become more open, innovative, and dynamic. It will continue to forge new frontiers of win-win cooperation with the world and write a new chapter of shared development.