Editor's Note: The national conference on the service sector, held in Beijing on April 7 and 8, highlighted China's push toward high-quality development in services. The human dimension plays a vital role in service competitiveness. Two experts share their views with China Daily's Li Huixian and Li Wei.

High-quality services align with China's development

The national conference on the service sector comes at a critical juncture. Its proposals aim to advance producer services toward greater specialization and higher positions in the value chain. At the same time, they emphasize fostering high-quality, diverse and accessible consumer services.

These priorities align well with the characteristics and needs of China's current stage of development. This perspective considers the country's industrial structure, as China is in the middle to late stages of industrialization.

Currently, China ranks second globally in total services trade, services imports also rank second globally. However, its services exports rank fifth, still lagging behind leading service economies.

To cultivate stronger "China Service" brands, it is essential to further open up China's service sector. This requires attracting large numbers of leading foreign service enterprises by leveraging the country's sound business environment. Encouraging coordinated development between domestic and foreign players and boosting domestic competitiveness through the introduction of external competitors can drive the growth of China's service sector, particularly high-end service brands.

A similar approach can be used to appropriately increase the import of urgently needed services. This would enhance domestic service consumption and increase public awareness and willingness to spend on high-end service brands.

Several key measures are required for the high-quality development of the domestic service sector. First, the traditional mindset that prioritizes goods trade over services trade needs to change. During downturn in goods trade, expanding services trade can mitigate associated risks and stabilize growth. Furthermore, administrative barriers such as strict licensing and approval requirements and restrictive regulations in the service sector should be removed to promote greater openness, particularly in professional services such as finance, education and healthcare.

Enterprises should focus on integrating services more deeply into manufacturing to boost the added value of services. For example, in addition to generating profit from selling electric vehicles, EV makers can strengthen brand management and offer integrated service solutions to increase the share of service-based income. Enhancing the role of services in manufacturing value added will also help China move up the medium-to-high end of the global value chain.

With China's per capita GDP surpassing $12,000, people's demand for a higher quality of life is growing steadily. Meeting these expectations requires support from high-end consumer services. Thus, initiatives aimed at expanding capacity and upgrading quality in the service sector align with the current goal of boosting consumption. Enhancing quality of life is fundamental to expanding consumption.

Wang Jun is a professor and the dean of the Institute of International Economic and Trade Research, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.