China has vowed to continue cutting red tape and attracting foreign investment to boost service consumption over the next five years, as Beijing turns to domestic demand for a reliable source of economic growth in an uncertain environment for international trade.
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There is a “shortage of high-quality service on the supply side” even as service consumption grows at a faster rate than that of goods, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.
To address the shortage, China will “reduce some restrictive measures and enrich service supply” from 2026 to 2030, especially in sectors such as healthcare and elderly care, Wang said.
Wang’s comments came as the world’s second-largest economy attempts to drive up domestic consumption to compensate for a trade picture complicated by a tense, multi-front trade war launched by US President Donald Trump earlier this year.
“China-US economic and trade relations have weathered many storms, and both sides remain important economic and trade partners,” Wang said when asked about the topic. “Facts prove that ‘decoupling’ is impossible.”
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In 2024, the combined goods imports of mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for about 13.3 per cent of global imports, the minister noted. This made China the world’s second-largest import market, nearly on par with the US and its 13.6 per cent share.