The latest statistics from the Ministry of Commerce said China's service trade is expected to witness an increase of 17 percent this year, and in terms of service exports, its global ranking rose from ninth to fifth place.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicted that China's imports and exports are expected to return to the pre-crisis levels.

The service trade has maintained steady growth, with the scale increasing rapidly and structure constantly being optimized. China has become an important service trade provider.

From 2005 to 2009, the total volume of China's service trade increased 1.8 times from $157.1 billion to $287 billion. Service exports rose by 14.9 percent annually, two times higher than the import increase.

In the first half of 2010, service exports surged 31.7 percent to reach $166 billion.

The structure of the service trade has continued to be optimized. Since the 11th Five Year Plan, the proportion of traditional industries like tourism and transportation has decreased year by year. By contrast, the emerging industries, such as insurance, IT services and consultation, have maintained steady growth. In recent years, the emerging industries are coming close to accounting for half of the total volume of service exports.

The opening of the service industry has been carried out in an orderly fashion. China has become a hot destination of the global service trade. China has already realized its commitments in opening services, such as transportation, tourism, computer and information, advertisement and culture, under the framework of the World Trade Organization and General Agreement on Trade in Services. Its financial sector and insurance industry have basically been opened to the outside world.

The strategy of "going out" has been further implemented. The commercial presence overseas saw a fast increase, and its ratio of outbound investment is surging. Though it has just started, the Chinese commercial presence overseas has grown at a fast pace.

From 2005 to 2009, the emerging service sector witnessed a high growth rate. In 2009, leasing and business service industry contributed foreign direct investment totaling $20.5 billion, representing 36.2 percent of the service sector's outbound direct investment.

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