Foreign firms eye opportunities in China's opening-up

BEIJING－Foreign firms are striving to tap into China's services sector as they continue to see robust demand amid the country's opening-up efforts.

China announced at the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) that it will open up at a higher level.

It will implement across the country a negative list for cross-border services trade, scale up support for the growth of the services sector in Belt and Road markets and share the nation's technological achievements with the rest of the world.

China's openness is at a record high in history, not only in its financial sector but in all respects, said Calvin Fu, chief representative at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) China Office.

The country is working to further open its economy and trying to help the global community recover quickly from the COVID-19 pandemic, Fu said.

Hailing China's economic resilience and inclusiveness during the pandemic, Fu said the ADGM, an international financial center, is eager to leverage the CIFTIS and encourage leading global financial institutions to invest in the country.

The improvement of the business environment in China is quite visible, convincing and sustainable, said Fu, adding that the country's market size, the government's success in dealing with the pandemic and abundant talent are attractive to foreign investors.

In July, China introduced its first negative list for cross-border trade in services at the Hainan Free Trade Port, marking the highest level of opening-up in the country.

GLP, a global investment manager and business builder in logistics, data infrastructure, renewable energy and related technologies, said China's institutional innovation is encouraging. The company believes the negative list will lead to further upgrades of cross-border supply chain businesses and higher growth rates.

China's high-quality development and dual-circulation strategy will undoubtedly bring more opportunities, said Gao Tan, general manager of GLP Supply Chain Services.

"We have provided integrated supply chain services to our clients in China during the pandemic and helped them move their products to fulfil overseas demand through our smart global logistics network," said Gao. "With booming demand in cross-border trading services, we are highly confident in the Chinese market."

Statistics have shown the encouraging performance of the services industry in China. In the first seven months, the country's services trade rose 7.3 percent year-on-year to nearly 2.81 trillion yuan ($435.04 billion).

JPMorgan Futures Co Ltd has completed a new round of capital injection of over 300 million yuan in June this year, showing the firm's confidence in the prospects of China's financial services sector.

"The Chinese market is so huge that our global clients have shown great interest in it," said Rochelle Wei, CEO of JPMorgan Futures Co Ltd. She added the company has been helping its clients in China and abroad to expand their business.

Vivian Jiang, deputy CEO of Deloitte China, said there is still a gap between China and developed countries in the proportion of the services sector in their gross domestic product.

"But we are confident of the Chinese services market as the country pursues balanced development between its manufacturing and services sector amid high-quality development," she said.

Xinhua