The scale of trade has been steadily expanded, the structure has been continuously optimized, and the international competitiveness has been constantly enhanced - the opening and development of service trade has been further accelerated, "China Travel" has continued to be popular, digital game products have successfully "gone to sea", China-Chic IP has been screen swiping overseas... These hot topics continue to emerge, which is a reflection of the rapid development of China's service trade today. Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting High Quality Development of Service Trade through High Level Opening up" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which comprehensively and systematically deployed the high-quality development of service trade under the new situation, and clearly proposed to promote the growth of service trade scale, structural optimization, efficiency improvement, and strength enhancement. According to expert analysis, the current global service trade and service industry cooperation are deepening. With the implementation of relevant policy arrangements in the Opinion, China's service trade opening up is expected to accelerate further. Although it may not be as visible and tangible as tangible goods, service trade has deeply integrated into all aspects of social life. For example, exporting cars is a traditional commodity trade, but if a car pushes autonomous driving assistance services to foreign consumers through the cloud, it is based on digital service trade. In addition, in industries such as tourism services, education and healthcare, and information and communication, as well as in productive service areas such as research and development, information technology, intellectual property, and business services, trade in services occurs almost constantly. Looking at the world, trade in services is becoming a growth engine driving global trade. In the past decade, the development speed of service trade has been faster than that of goods trade, and its proportion in the global trade volume has also been continuously increasing. According to statistics organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, global trade in goods will decline by 5% in 2023, while trade in services will grow by 8%, becoming an important driving force for economic globalization. Accelerating the development of service trade is an inevitable requirement for expanding high-level opening up to the outside world and cultivating new driving forces for foreign trade development The Opinion provides a comprehensive and systematic deployment for the development of service trade under the new situation, and proposes the development goal of "promoting the growth of service trade scale, optimizing structure, improving efficiency, and enhancing strength". Looking at scale - In 2023, the national service import and export reached 6.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10%, and the scale reached a historical high. From 2012 to 2023, measured in US dollars, the average annual growth rate of China's service trade was 6.2%, higher than the global average growth rate and the growth rate of China's goods trade during the same period. However, at the same time, the proportion of service trade in China's total foreign trade is still lower than the global average, and there is enormous room for future development. Looking at the structure - by 2023, the proportion of knowledge intensive service trade in the total service trade will increase to 41.4%. Among them, the proportion of knowledge intensive service exports will increase to 57.5%, and the competitiveness and "value" of exports will continue to improve. According to predictions, if the current growth rate is maintained, the proportion of knowledge intensive service trade in the total service trade is expected to increase to over 50% in the future, thus forming a new structure of service trade dominated by knowledge intensive trade. Assistant Minister of Commerce Tang Wenhong stated that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we have promoted the high-quality development of service trade, steadily expanded the scale of trade, continuously optimized the structure, and continuously enhanced international competitiveness. At present, China's service trade is in an important period of innovation and development. The transformation of China's economic structure contains enormous potential for the development of service trade. Chi Fulin, President of the China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute, believes that in the next 10 years, China's economic structure transformation and upgrading will be accompanied by the rapid development of service trade, the continuous increase in the demand for service-oriented consumption in the whole society, and the continuous increase in the proportion of productive service industry driven by industrial structure transformation and upgrading, which will form an inherent demand for the rapid development of service trade. Tang Wenhong said that the implementation of the "Opinions" will further improve the level of openness in China's service sector and promote the convenient cross-border flow of various innovative factors; Further stimulate innovation momentum in various fields and broaden the development space of service trade; Further improve promotion policies and systems, optimize the development environment of service trade. The comprehensive implementation of the negative list for cross-border service trade and the promotion of institutional opening up of service trade amounted to over 4 billion US dollars in 1982 and 933.1 billion US dollars in 2023, an increase of more than 230 times - this is the process that China's service trade has gone through for more than 40 years. The development of service trade directly relies on the opening up of the service industry market and the alignment of rules, regulations, management, and standards. From the initial development of service trade driven by reform and opening up, to China's full fulfillment of its WTO commitments after joining the World Trade Organization, accelerating the opening up of its service industry to the outside world, gradually establishing a management and promotion system for service trade, and rapidly increasing the scale of service trade, China has gradually become one of the world's major service trade powers, "said Tang Wenhong. Openness remains the key word guiding the future. The Opinion proposes to promote institutional openness in service trade. Fully implement the negative list for cross-border service trade, establish corresponding management systems, and manage cross-border service trade outside the negative list in accordance with the principle of equal treatment for domestic and foreign services and service providers. This is an important measure taken by China to proactively align with international high standard economic and trade rules. In July 2021, Hainan Free Trade Port was the first to release and implement a negative list for cross-border service trade. In March of this year, two negative lists for cross-border service trade applicable nationwide and in pilot free trade zones were released, forming a gradient opening-up system in the field of cross-border service trade nationwide. The implementation of negative list management for cross-border service trade has effectively improved the transparency and predictability of management, laying a good foundation for creating a transparent, stable, and predictable institutional environment Wang Dongtang, Director of the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services of the Ministry of Commerce, said. From establishing and improving the negative list management system for cross-border service trade, to playing a leading role in opening up to the outside world, strengthening rule docking and regulatory coordination, and improving the standardization level of service trade, the "Opinions" put forward clear requirements around institutional opening, and the promotion of related work will be further strengthened - focusing on improving the ability to manage negative lists. Relevant departments will strengthen the connection between various administrative approvals, permits, filings, and the negative list, timely adjust regulations, rules, and normative documents that do not comply with the negative list, and continuously enhance the ability to open up supervision, risk prevention and control, and rule innovation. Give full play to the leading role of the platform for opening up to the outside world. Give full play to the role of the pilot free trade zone and Hainan Free Trade Port in opening up and stress testing; Accelerate the construction of a national demonstration zone for innovative development of service trade, and create a comprehensive reform and opening-up platform and high-quality development highland for service trade. Strengthen the coordination of rules and regulations. China will implement high-quality service trade openness commitments and related rules in regional economic and trade arrangements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), actively connect with international high standard economic and trade rules such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and deepen reforms in the domestic service trade field. Improve the standardization level of service trade. The relevant departments will implement the Action Plan for Standardization of Trade in Services and accelerate the development of standards in the field of trade in services. Carry out internationalization of service trade standards and encourage the adoption of internationally recognized standards in areas where conditions permit. Professor Cui Fan from the School of International Economics and Trade at the University of International Business and Economics believes that with the comprehensive implementation of the negative list management system for cross-border service trade, service trade is expected to become a breakthrough for China to further expand its opening-up. Cultivating more growth points and expanding the "friend circle" of service trade does not require buying tickets first and then brushing tickets. Starting from September 13th, the entire railway network in Beijing will be opened to support foreign visitors to China to swipe their overseas bank cards to pass through the gates. Compared with the previous practice of foreign nationals purchasing tickets with cash or bank cards, the new measures significantly reduce the time and communication costs of purchasing tickets and entering the station. Data shows that from January to July this year, Beijing received 1.995 million inbound tourists, a year-on-year increase of 227.9%. By optimizing business processes and payment limits, the number and amount of mobile payments made by foreign nationals in Beijing have doubled quarterly. Continuously improving payment convenience, optimizing visa and customs clearance policies, accelerating the recovery of international transportation such as flights, improving comprehensive inbound tourism services, and enhancing the management level of cultural and tourism venues... With the continuous optimization of policies, more and more foreign tourists are coming to China for tourism, and "China Travel" has become popular on overseas social platforms. How to promote high-quality development of service trade through high-level openness? The Opinion also makes arrangements in terms of cross-border flow of resource elements and key areas. ——Promote cross-border flow of resource elements. In terms of promoting the trading and application of technological achievements, the "Opinions" propose to improve the management and promotion system of technology trade, create an innovative resource docking platform, expand international technology cooperation networks, promote the international operation of intellectual property rights, and provide convenient arrangements for cross-border transfer of technology in research and development centers. In terms of international operation of intellectual property rights, China has promoted the open sharing of green patented technology in countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road"; Support the construction of international intellectual property operation and transformation service platforms in Pudong, Shanghai and Hetao, Shenzhen, accelerate the construction of 9 characteristic export bases for intellectual property services, and promote cross-border intellectual property transactions. From January to June this year, the total import and export volume of intellectual property usage fees in China reached 213 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%. ——Promote innovative development in key areas. The Opinion proposes to enhance the capacity of international transportation services; Enhance the international competitiveness of travel services; Support the development of professional service trade; Encourage the export of traditional advantageous services and further improve policies and measures to support the high-quality development of cultural trade. In terms of cultural trade, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, together with the Ministry of Commerce, has named a new batch of 12 national foreign cultural trade bases to provide comprehensive service guarantees for domestic cultural and tourism enterprises to explore overseas markets and foreign enterprises to trade and invest in China. Since the beginning of this year, we have supported national cultural trade bases to carry out overseas exchange and docking activities for key enterprises and projects in Vietnam, Hungary and other countries. We have signed a total of 20 million yuan in procurement contracts and reached more than 40 intentions for cooperation, with a total amount exceeding 100 million yuan. ——Expand international market layout. The Opinion clarifies the need to deepen international cooperation in service trade. Implement the Global Partner Network Plan for Service Trade, consolidate key partners, and actively explore emerging markets. Wang Dongtang said that in the future, we will continue to deepen service trade cooperation with the countries that jointly build the "the Belt and Road", and foster more cooperation growth points. Expand bilateral and regional cooperation mechanisms for service trade, support the construction of international cooperation parks for service trade in regions with conditions, and actively expand the "circle of friends" for service trade. As the second largest country in global service trade, China's promotion of service trade openness will add tremendous vitality to the global market Chi Fulin said. (New Society)