China to expand services opening-up, deepen int'l cooperatio

BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China will further expand opening-up in the services sector and broaden development opportunities through international cooperation as the industry becomes an increasingly important focus of the country's high-quality development, according to experts.

To spur the services sector to new heights, China needs to open its doors wider, bringing in advanced experience while going global to showcase the "Chinese Services" brand for mutual benefits, noted Li Chunfang, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, during the latest episode of China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Xinhua News Agency.

As foreign investment restrictions in China's manufacturing sector have been fully removed, the services sector has become a key focus of China's high-level opening-up. In the January-February period, actual foreign investment in China's services sector accounted for 68.9 percent of the country's total foreign investment, official data showed.

Liu Tao, deputy director of the Institute of Market Economy at the Development Research Center of the State Council, noted that China's policy efforts in the services sector have mainly focused on three areas: further easing foreign investment access, expanding opening-up platforms, and deepening opening-up in key sectors.

China has dynamically updated its negative list for foreign investment access, with reducing special management measures in the services sector as a major priority. It has also formulated and released a negative list for cross-border trade in services.

The country has also expanded platforms for services opening-up. So far, the number of comprehensive pilot areas for expanding the opening-up of the services sector has reached 20.

In key sectors, China has piloted the removal of foreign ownership limits in some value-added telecommunications services and allowed trials for the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals.

Looking ahead, China will further expand opening-up trials in areas such as value-added telecommunications and wholly foreign-owned hospitals. It will also improve the negative-list management system for cross-border trade in services, strengthen compliance assessment services for cross-border data flows, enhance services trade cooperation with key countries, and promote exports of cultural and tourism services, according to Liu.