BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- China is ramping up efforts to expand and upgrade its service sector, aiming to better underpin economic growth, industrial upgrading, people's livelihoods and high-standard opening up, officials and experts said on the latest episode of China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Xinhua News Agency.
Advancing high-quality, efficient development of the service sector aligns with economic trends, industrial needs and public expectations, noted Li Chunfang, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission.
China's service sector has played an increasingly robust role in driving growth in recent years. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), its added value successively surpassed the 60-trillion-yuan (about 8.77 trillion U.S. dollars), 70-trillion-yuan and 80-trillion-yuan marks. In the first quarter of 2026, the service sector's added value accounted for 61.7 percent of China's gross domestic product, up 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier.
The country has intensified policy efforts to boost service sector development. The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) and this year's government work report both made specific arrangements for this sector, while a national conference on service sector development was held in April, and the State Council issued a guideline on advancing the expansion and quality upgrading of the sector.
HIGH-QUALITY SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
China's service sector has achieved notable progress, yet gaps remain when measured against the requirements of high-quality development, said Liu Tao, deputy head of the Institute of Market Economy under the Development Research Center of the State Council.
Amid profound shifts in the global landscape and rapid breakthroughs in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), many of which have seen initial application in service fields, China's service sector faces valuable opportunities alongside notable challenges, Liu said.
The service sector still faces institutional obstacles in areas including market access, factor mobility, regulatory models, integrated development and open cooperation.
To tackle these constraints, the guideline issued by the State Council on April 21 has set out measures to ease market access, expand application scenarios, refine regulatory approaches, deepen pilot programs and broaden opening up.
Wider adoption of AI, big data and the industrial internet has spawned new business formats such as smart logistics and digital cultural tourism, helping traditional services upgrade and emerging services grow faster while cutting costs and boosting efficiency, said Li.
Elderly care stands out as a key service area where new technologies can play a bigger role. Zhang Chengcheng, chairperson of Roffar Elderly Service Co., Ltd, said the sector will fully leverage the Internet of Things, big data and intelligent monitoring to improve safety, lower operating costs and provide more convenient and efficient modern services for the elderly.
With all foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector lifted, the service sector has become a key area for China's high-standard opening up. In 2025, the sector attracted 545.12 billion yuan of actual foreign investment, accounting for more than 70 percent of the national total, while service trade exceeded 8 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.4 percent year on year.
Liu said China has continued to widen its service sector opening by easing foreign investment access, expanding opening-up platforms and further opening key fields, with comprehensive pilot programs for service sector opening up now covering 20 areas across the country.
FOSTERING CHINA SERVICES BRANDS
According to the guideline, China aims to make marked progress in high-quality service sector development by 2030, with the total scale of the sector exceeding 100 trillion yuan by then, while more competitive and influential "China services" brands will be cultivated.
Li said the service sector is expected to generate about 20 trillion yuan in additional growth space during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and the guideline has identified 26 sub-sectors in 10 key fields for expansion and upgrading, giving enterprises clearer direction for development.
Translating this growth potential into stronger brands will require more high-quality service providers. Major service enterprises account for less than 1 percent of service sector market entities in China, while Chinese companies make up less than 6 percent of the global top 500 service enterprises, according to Li.
Li said efforts should be made to deepen reform, improve the business environment, scale up fiscal and financial support, and help service enterprises build stronger brands.
For producer service providers such as inspection, testing and certification agencies, building stronger "China services" hinges on enhancing institutional credibility, industrial support capacity and global influence, said Liu Gang, general manager of China Quality Certification Centre Co., Ltd.
Liu noted that the sector should benchmark against leading international standards, better cater to domestic economic and social development needs, and promote international mutual recognition of inspection, testing and certification results, so as to help Chinese standards and Chinese manufacturing become more competitive globally.
In building elderly-care service brands, operators should focus on both quality and warmth by placing greater emphasis on family-style companionship, emotional care and cultural enrichment, while promoting intergenerational interaction and neighborhood mutual assistance, said Zhang.
China's wider opening up has also helped Chinese services in fields like logistics, cross-border e-commerce and cultural tourism gain a stronger global presence. In the first quarter of 2026, the country's service exports rose 11.2 percent year on year to 704.52 billion yuan.
As China enters its 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is poised to further expand and upgrade its service sector, shore up services that drive industrial upgrading, deliver more high-quality, accessible services for households, and nurture more competitive "China services" brands. Enditem
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