China will intensify efforts to upgrade its fast-growing services sector, aiming to foster an open, competitive and high-quality ecosystem that benefits both Chinese consumers and global providers, experts and executives said.

To achieve this vision, the State Council — China's Cabinet — unveiled on Tuesday plans designed to steer producer services toward "greater specialization and higher positions in the value chain", while making consumer services "more quality-oriented, diversified and convenient".

China's services sector has grown steadily over the years, accounting for 57.7 percent of GDP in 2025, and it is expected its total scale will surpass 100 trillion yuan ($14.67 trillion) by the end of the decade — a 23 percent increase from current levels.

Further opening-up is seen as key to advancing the high-quality growth of the services sector this year and beyond, evidenced by the Government Work Report's call to "orderly relax market access restrictions in the services sector" and the 15th Five-Year Plan's pledge to "expand high-level opening-up of the services sector".

After years of dismantling market access restrictions for foreign investors in manufacturing, China is now setting its sights on the services sector, where experts said the barriers remain relatively higher but the potential rewards for both the domestic economy and foreign firms are larger.

Unlike manufacturing, services have long been a relative laggard in China's opening-up drive, constrained by complexities that "go far beyond simple market access", said Cui Fan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics.

Cui said it involves the cross-border movement of data, capital, technology and talent, as well as rules covering environmental standards, intellectual property and professional qualifications.

"This means that the future focus of services sector opening will be more about aligning domestic rules with international norms," Cui added.

The accelerated opening-up comes as many economies retreat into protectionist shells. China has instead chosen to widen access, particularly in areas such as value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, according to the Cabinet's Tuesday policy document.

The country will also improve the management system covering the cross-border services trade negative list, and strengthen capabilities in data outbound compliance assessment and security certification as highlighted in the document.

Greater openness will speed the inflow of global quality services resources and advanced concepts, driving domestic services to upgrade their technology, business models and standards to align with international best practices, said Xu Shaofeng, senior vice-president of Schneider Electric.

For foreign firms engaged in the services sector, they could gain access to a market of 1.4 billion people, including a middle-income group of 400 million that is projected to reach 800 million over the next decade.

"China's continued efforts to open up its services sector and its policies to boost services consumption have greatly enhanced our confidence in the market," said Mao Yibing, president of Marriott International Greater China.

"Chinese consumers are paying increasing attention to experience," Mao said. "We can clearly see the strong potential of China's leisure travel market, with themes such as weekend getaways, family trips, cultural exploration and sports entertainment becoming key areas of focus."

Marriott will continue to focus its expansion on first-tier and emerging first-tier cities, popular tourist destinations, and various business and leisure travel scenarios, to capture a larger share of one of the world's fastest-growing services consumption markets, she added.

Poh-Yian Koh, president of Fed-Ex China, an express transportation service provider, said that as China pushes to open its services sector wider, a more inclusive and sophisticated ecosystem is taking shape.

"The enabling development climate in China has been a key reason for the company's steady growth here, and it has further strengthened FedEx's confidence in long-term investment and in growing together with the Chinese market," Koh said.

wangkeju@chinadaily.com.cn