Services trade surges as China embraces smart technologies, openness

The 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), featuring digital innovation and intelligent technologies, is underway in the park, gathering nearly 2,000 enterprises, including Global Fortune 500 companies and leading industrial enterprises in search of new cooperation opportunities in China.

Global exhibitors and business leaders are optimistic about the growth and future of China's international services trade, hailing the country's consistent policies to open up its services sector as a catalyst for global trade and shared growth.

ROBUST GROWTH

For Philips, the Dutch medical technology leader with a four-decade presence in China, the fair reflects robust momentum in the country's healthcare sector. Returning to CIFTIS for the fifth consecutive year, Philips unveiled its latest magnetic resonance system, a breakthrough that shortens scan times and boosts efficiency.

"The growing awareness of healthcare and the leap in medical technologies have fueled the sector's growth in China," said Yang Donglan, vice president of Philips Greater China. "Every year at CIFTIS, we feel China's business environment becoming more open and inclusive, giving us the confidence to deepen our roots here."

Tourism company TUI China shares that optimism. The Germany-headquartered firm sees inbound travel gaining fresh momentum.

Technology has been a boost to tourism, said TUI China CEO Guido Brettschneider, noting that modern technologies, ranging from translation tools that enable tour guides to communicate in multiple languages to mobile payment options like Alipay and WeChat Pay for overseas visitors, have reduced barriers and enhanced traveler satisfaction.

The numbers bear this out. From January to July in 2025, China's total services trade reached 4.58 trillion yuan (642.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 8.2 percent year on year. Tourism, a pillar of this growth, totaled 1.26 trillion yuan (177 billion dollars), surging 10.4 percent, according to a report from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in early September.

The growth is attracting more global partners. Australia, this year's guest country of honor at CIFTIS, sent its largest-ever delegation of nearly 60 organizations and companies.

On the opening day, it signed 15 agreements with Chinese partners in sectors including education, healthcare, finance and culture.

"China remains a market of tremendous potential in the service sector," said Dominic Trindade, commercial minister at the Australian Embassy in Beijing. "Australia is committed to the Chinese market and our service providers are ready to develop new partnerships here."

TECH POWER

At the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) booth, a humanoid robot greeted visitors, offering a glimpse into the future of banking.

Already deployed in several branches, the AI assistant can answer questions and explain bank services -- an emblem of this year's CIFTIS theme: "Embrace Intelligent Technologies, Empower Trade in Services."

Digital innovation is becoming the backbone of China's service economy. In the first seven months of 2025, knowledge-intensive services -- including AI, digital finance, and professional consulting -- rose 6.8 percent to 1.78 trillion yuan (250 billion dollars), said the commerce ministry report.

For Zaha Hadid Architects, a British architecture and design firm, the tech boom is transforming the construction services industry.

Digital tools are adopted throughout the construction process, from design to fabrication, enabling factories to precisely execute the design, which enhances accuracy and quality control, said Satoshi Ohashi, director of Zaha Hadid Architects.

China has built an incredible manufacturing base, and now it has grown and developed into an innovation powerhouse, said Ohashi. "And I think that's the power and potential of the Chinese economy."

The view is echoed by Henning Kristoffersen, commercial counselor of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, who noted that China's technological advancements are helping international firms raise efficiency and sharpen competitiveness.

By shifting from traditional industries to high-value-added sectors, China is enhancing its capacity to deliver high-quality and innovative services to its international partners, said Dale Pinto, president and chair of the board of CPA Australia. "This transition is opening new avenues for global cooperation of mutual benefit."

POLICY OPENNESS

The rapid expansion of China's services trade comes amid its consistent commitment to opening up and win-win cooperation.

Amid a notable rise in unilateralism and protectionism, China has steadily advanced institutional opening up in trade in services, which has provided strong momentum for its own development and created greater room for global economic growth, said Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang during a keynote speech at the event.

He also reiterated China's commitment to working with all countries and parties to strengthen opening up and cooperation in services trade.

This commitment is tangible for foreign companies like Philips.

A more open and inclusive business environment in China offers more pragmatic opportunities for the company's development, encouraging it to further strengthen its operations here, said Yang Donglan, vice president of Philips Greater China.

Global scholars have hailed China's opening up as a strong driver for an open world economy and inclusive growth.

China's efforts to advance high-standard opening up bring opportunities for shared development and prosperity to countries of the Global South, while improving the global governance system, said Mutinda Mutisya, a senior lecturer at the Department of Diplomacy and International Studies of the University of Nairobi.

Steps taken by Chinese policymakers have created a platform for equal participation by its partners, including emerging economies, said Tolonbek Abdyrov, a professor of economics and vice rector of the International Higher School of Medicine in Kyrgyzstan, noting that China's advocacy for equal rights to development of all countries sends a clear and positive message.

CIFTIS and China's commitment to openness provide a much-needed boost to global trade, strained by tariff hikes, said Herman Tiu Laurel, president of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, a Manila-based think tank. "CIFTIS will help sustain and improve the momentum of global trade and growth."
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