New guidelines seek to vitalize service sector

Editor's note: The State Council, China's Cabinet, has issued new guidelines aimed at expanding the capacity and upgrading the quality of the service sector. Economic Information Daily spoke to Zhang Xiaolan, a researcher with the State Information Center, and Li Jun and Pang Chaoran, researchers at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, on the development of China's service industry. Below are excerpts of the interview. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

Expanding the capacity and improving the quality of the service sector is essential to help increase domestic demand. The guidelines state that the total scale of China's service sector is expected to reach 100 trillion yuan ($14.66 trillion) by 2030.

The guidelines lay out a clear direction, balancing near-term priorities with long-term goals. By focusing on expanding the scale, improving the quality and strengthening the overall capability of the service sector, they seek to reinforce the sector's strengths and address its weaknesses.

China's service sector made up 57.7 percent of the national GDP in 2025, contributed 61.4 percent to the country's economic growth and accounted for around half of the country's total employment, but there is still significant potential to be tapped.

In particular, producer services are not yet fully aligned with the needs of the real economy. For example, technology services often lack effective integration, while capabilities in research, development and design remain relatively weak. Digital services still lag behind, with the application of industrial software insufficient, while logistics and financial services face efficiency constraints, and there is a limited supply of green and high-end business services.

To address these challenges, the guidelines focus on key areas including technology, logistics, digitalization, finance and business. A series of practical measures aim to advance breakthroughs in industrial software, improve multimodal transport systems and accelerate the development of pilot-scale testing platforms. As these initiatives take effect, they are expected to strengthen the weak links in producer services and better support industrial upgrading.

The guidelines also emphasize reform and innovation. They call for striking a balance between greater flexibility and effective regulation, including the removal of unreasonable standards and unnecessary restrictions. Currently, market barriers, entry barriers and institutional constraints hinder the development of the service sector. Different entities face various constraints in different regions due to the standards and practices of local governments. Breaking down these barriers will be a priority going forward.

In the area of business services, the guidelines focus on building world-class consulting brands. In recent years, many Chinese business service providers have developed overseas. The building of leading consulting brands not only reflects the growing international presence of Chinese companies, but also signals a broader shift in the role of business services from supporting manufacturing to helping shape it, and from being intermediary functions to becoming an integral part of the industrial organization.

At the same time, the guidelines aim to cultivate small but highly specialized individual businesses. This approach better reflects the diverse structure of the sector and is expected to further stimulate market vitality and enrich supply.

Overall, the guidelines serve as a framework for the high-quality development of China's service sector in the years ahead. Centered on the twin goals of expanding capacity and improving quality, they address structural bottlenecks while clarifying the path forward. As the measures are gradually implemented, the service sector is poised to move toward the 100-trillion-yuan mark and play a larger role in expanding domestic demand, stabilizing employment, promoting openness and improving livelihoods.