How can trade in services become a new source of growth for China?

Editor's note: Zhang Deyong, research fellow at the National Academy of Economic Strategy, CASS.

The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

From January to July this year, China's total imports and exports of services reached 4,446.71 billion yuan ($662 billion), up 8.3% year on year.

Of this total, exports amounted to 1,773.23 billion yuan, an increase of 17.1%.

As digitalization, intelligent transformation, and green development accelerate, the scope and forms of trade in services are undergoing profound changes.

These changes are becoming an important driver of growth in both the scale and quality of China's trade in services, while also opening up new space for economic growth.

China's trade in services is undergoing structural change.

In the past, it was distinctly labor-intensive.

Today, as China vigorously pursues innovation-driven development and the optimization and upgrading of its industrial structure, the traditional pattern of its trade in services is being rapidly reshaped.

This is not simply a matter of adding new forms of business; rather, it represents a fundamental shift in service supply capacity from factor-driven to innovation-driven.

From January to July, exports of knowledge-intensive services grew notably, rising by 12.2% and accounting for 53.5% of the total service exports.

This indirectly highlights the ongoing enhancement of technological sophistication and value added in China's trade in services.

The profound change now underway is that trade in services is no longer confined to the traditional boundaries of "directly providing services".

Instead, with services as the vehicle, technology, platforms, and industries are being deeply integrated into service chains, giving rise to integrated supply models such as "technology + services," "platforms + services," and "industry + services".