By Li Jie
Across diverse sectors ranging from tourism and transportation to healthcare, finance, and telecommunications, China is steadily advancing the opening-up of its service sector, unlocking new opportunities for consumer access, foreign investment, and regional growth.
Recently, the Chinese government released a work plan that aims to expand the nation’s comprehensive pilot programs to more cities to accelerate the opening-up of the service sector, which outlines new efforts to accelerate and deepen reform in designated pilot regions.
The plan includes 155 pilot tasks across 14 key areas, such as the opening of telecommunications and other digital industries, improved access and service capacity in healthcare and elderly care. These tasks will be implemented simultaneously in all 11 existing pilot provinces and cities, with nine additional cities such as Dalian, Ningbo, and Xiamen permitted to carry out comprehensive pilot programs.
Since 2015, China’s State Council has authorized 11 provinces and cities to carry out pilot program, establishing an innovative “1+4+6” governance framework: Beijing serves as the Chinese national demonstration zone, four municipalities (Tianjin, Shanghai, Hainan, and Chongqing) act as regional models, and six provincial capitals (Shenyang, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Chengdu) implement extended reform measures.
In 2024, these pilot regions attracted 293.2 billion yuan ($40.83 billion) in service sector foreign direct investment(FDI), accounting for roughly half of the national total FDI in that category.
“The pilot programs have consistently lowered market entry thresholds, expanded institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards, and fostered a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized. This has created diverse application scenarios and a stable, open policy environment for investment and operations,” said Ling Ji, vice minister of commerce and deputy China international trade representative.
Nie Pingxiang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under China’s Ministry of Commerce, noted that with all market access restrictions for foreign investors in the manufacturing sector now removed, the services sector has become the primary focus of China’s high-level opening up.
Against the backdrop of rising unilateralism and protectionism globally, China’s push to expand voluntary opening-up in an orderly manner represents its concrete efforts to inject more certainty and stability into the world.
Zhu Bing, director general of the Department of Foreign Investment Administration of China’s Ministry of Commerce, highlighted several defining features of the newly released plan, underscoring its emphasis on innovation, institutional reform, and region-specific implementation.
First of all, the plan emphasizes innovation as a driver for developing new quality productive forces. For instance, based on commercial space launch sites, the plan supports the development of integrated industrial chains – encompassing rockets, satellites, and data services – that bring together R&D, assembly and testing, data applications, and trade in services, while expanding new “aerospace plus” business models.
The plan also supports pilot projects in smart mobility, including initiatives for “vehicle-road-cloud” integration – an approach that connects vehicles, infrastructure, and digital platforms – as well as large-scale infrastructure for networked control systems. These projects aim to spur breakthroughs in next-generation mobility and speed their path to commercialization.
Equally central to the plan is a push for institutional opening-up. Drawing on high-standard international economic and trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, the plan calls for tailoring international rules to domestic industries while advancing proactive rule-making in areas where China can take the lead. The ultimate goal is to align Chinese domestic standards more closely with global benchmarks.
More importantly, the plan is notably pragmatic, adopting a problem-oriented approach that reflects the on-the-ground concerns of businesses and investors. Many of its 155 pilot tasks respond directly to real-world operational challenges. These include streamlining reinvestment procedures for foreign-funded enterprises by eliminating the need for foreign exchange registration, allowing qualified foreign professionals in finance and green sectors to work in designated zones, and expanding the functionality and acceptance of permanent residence identification for foreigners living in China.
Regional differentiation is another hallmark of the plan. Pilot reforms are encouraged to align with each locality’s comparative strengths and development priorities, offering room for experimentation at multiple levels.
Shanghai, for instance, is piloting citywide electronic port visa system, with the goal of eventual nationwide rollout. In Hainan, the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone is integrating medical care, research, pharmaceuticals, industry, and urban development, with a particular focus on expedited access to international treatments for cancer and rare diseases. In Chongqing, new programs are helping multinationals improve cross-border financing through the integration of domestic and foreign currency cash pools.
According to Nie, this new round of pilot programs marks a deeper phase in China’s services opening-up and offers a clearer blueprint for continued liberalization.
Staff members assist customers at a cross-border financial service center of the Bank of China (BoC) in Shapingba district, southwest China’s Chongqing municipality. (Photo by Sun Kaifang/People’s Daily Online)
Visitors explore smart elderly care products at the 11th China International Elderly Care Service Industry Expo recently held in Beijing, attended by social organizations, brands and institutions from over 10 countries and regions including Australia and Canada. (Photo by Chen Xiaogen/People’s Daily Online)
