China’s combination of huge market size, steadfast opening-up, innovation depth, and policy certainty constitute ‘a powerful draw’ to businesses
People visit the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on September 10, 2026. Photo: Li Hao/GT"This used to be a steel mill. Now the old workshops are equipped with modern functions, keeping so many traces of history. It's beautiful," Norwegian visual artist René Konings told the Global Times, speaking of Beijing's Shougang Park, the venue of the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).As a first-time visitor to China, Konings said that he was impressed by the transformation. The towering blast furnaces still stand, with industrial relics now framing contemporary exhibition halls. Since first hosting CIFTIS thematic exhibitions in 2021, Shougang Park has evolved into the fair's permanent venue. Its industrial workshops have become a "city showcase." This steel city, built in 1919 and spanning about 9 square kilometers, is reborn as a global stage for services trade more than a century later. "This park is an excellent example of how to give new life to abandoned factories," Konings said. He collects discarded plastic bottles, cardboard and paper, transforming them into portraits. "When they still hold content, these materials have value," he said. The same logic applies to Shougang Park's transformation - those discarded blast furnaces and workshops, after being "abandoned," have had their value rediscovered. The same is true of CIFTIS itself: what it trades are precisely those intangible, often overlooked values - services.If a discarded steel mill can host an all-inclusive international trade fair dedicated to trade in services, then how far can China's service economy imagination go? Why do global giants continue to place heavy bets on Chinese services?The answer lies in how multinationals are redefining their development path in China - from scale expansion to service innovation and value upgrading. As Luz Maria de la Mora, director of UNCTAD's Division on International Trade and Commodities, told the Global Times: "China is a key player in international services trade. Beyond its share of exports and imports, China leads in several segments: it is the top importer of travel services, and it has become a major force in telecommunications, computer services, transport, and increasingly in artificial intelligence (AI)."Innovation orientedThis year's fair drew participants from 90 countries, regions and international organizations, with more than 1,830 companies exhibiting on-site, including 473 Fortune Global 500 firms and industry leaders. More than 200 new products and achievements are being displayed, with over 100 of them making their debut, according to the fair organizer.Schneider Electric, for example, attending CIFTIS for the seventh consecutive year, is showcasing full-lifecycle one-stop services. Its newly launched EcoConsult data-center consulting service aims to help extend facility lifespans, cut costs, and improve reliability, the Global Times learned."Our seventh year at CIFTIS reflects our firm commitment to deepening roots in China, strengthening local innovation and building ecosystems," said Xu Shaofeng, senior vice-president of Schneider Electric.Merck is unveiling AI-powered drug research and development scenarios and tools that use deep learning and large models to shorten the time from laboratory to clinic. GE Healthcare launched a new flagship angiography system at this year's CIFTIS, describing it as "a showcase of Chinese innovation combined with the company's global resources," the Global Times learned.These launches mirror a deeper shift among multinationals in China: from scale expansion to value upgrading. A PwC report released in April found that 42 percent of surveyed multinationals plan to increase investment in "China-based R&D that serves the world" to elevate the strategic role of their China operations. Multinationals increasingly view China as an "innovation source and second global headquarters," pushing localization of both R&D and marketing to meet Chinese consumers' needs more precisely, Wu Xuchu, vice chairman of KPMG China, noted earlier this year at the China Development Forum.Policy consistencyChina has steadfastly adhered to opening-up. This year, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued an action plan to stabilize and optimize foreign investment, further expanding opening-up in services on top of earlier pilots in biotechnology, value-added telecoms and wholly foreign-owned hospitals. Beijing's comprehensive pilot zone for services opening is being elevated. "Since 2016, China has established national demonstration zones for the innovative development of trade in services, which have tested policy reforms and business models that enhance productivity, effectiveness, and job quality. These zones offer valuable lessons for other developing countries," de la Mora said.China's commitment to opening-up has produced results. In the first seven months of 2026, actual foreign investment in services reached 319.95 billion yuan ($47.7 billion), according to data from MOFCOM.High-tech industries saw particularly strong growth, especially in R&D and design services.The domestic market itself is expanding rapidly. The value added of the service sector accounted for 59.5 percent of GDP in the first half of 2026, contributing 66.1 percent to economic growth. The sector's share of GDP was 45.5 percent in 2012, surpassing the secondary industry (involving manufacturing and industrial processes) for the first time and becoming the largest sector of the national economy, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.Meanwhile, service consumption continued to rise, reaching 46.1 percent of residents' per-capita spending in 2025, official data showed.As Wu said, China's service consumption has vast growth potential. "New consumption, green consumption and service consumption are becoming long-term growth engines and the most important source of incremental demand for multinationals."CIFTIS participants also said that, in a world of growing economic uncertainty, China's combination of huge market size, opening policies, innovation depth, and policy certainty has become a powerful draw. Bruno Masier, president of the World Trade Point Federation and a veteran CIFTIS participant, praised China's leadership in advancing market openness and supporting free trade. "China has been at the forefront of this process in recent years," Masier told the Global Times.China's attractiveness stems from its vast market, continuous opening, complete supply chains and rich application scenarios - plus the certainty it offers amid global supply-chain turbulence, said Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
