Liu Zhangli, Assistant Minister of Commerce of China, said that the authorities will orderly ease restrictions on market access in the services sector and break down barriers to cross-border trade in services.
According to a report by China News Service, Zhangli stated at a regular policy briefing of the State Council on the 28th that China has become a major country in service trade, with the scale of service trade remaining among the top in the world.
He said that in 2025, the total import and export volume of China’s service trade historically broke through 8 trillion yuan (4.62 trillion ringgit), reaching 8.08 trillion yuan (4.67 trillion ringgit), a year-on-year increase of 7.4%. Among them, service exports increased by 14.2% year-on-year, much faster than service imports, becoming a new driver and new engine for China’s foreign trade growth.
Zhangli said that the authorities will further improve the management system of the negative list for cross-border service trade, proactively align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, orderly ease market access restrictions in the services sector, break down barriers to cross-border service trade, and promote the safe and convenient cross-border flow of elements such as capital, personnel, and data closely related to service trade.
He said that China will promote international cooperation in service trade. The Global Service Trade Partnership Network Program will be implemented, relying on multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation platforms, strengthening institutionalized cooperation with key trade in services partners, negotiating and signing service trade cooperation agreements with more countries, innovating cooperation methods, and tapping cooperation potential. Various types of service trade promotion platforms will be established to help build international connection channels and support service enterprises in participating in international competition and cooperation on a larger scale.