China’s President Xi Jinping has called for a demand-driven approach, alongside reform and technological empowerment, to develop the country’s services sector, according to state news agency Xinhua.
China will expand and upgrade the services sector, cultivate more “China service” brands, and push production-oriented services towards greater specialisation and higher positions in the value chain, Xinhua quoted Xi as saying in a directive to a two-day national service industry conference in Beijing that began on Tuesday.
China will “emphasise demand-driven development, push forward reform breakthroughs, harness science and technology to drive growth, and expand openness and cooperation,” Xi said.
Premier Li Qiang said China should expand the supply of upgraded services and improve its consumption structure in line with demographic shifts to meet increasingly diverse consumer demand.
He added that China should accelerate the growth of technology services by moving research and development and design towards greater specialisation and higher value-added segments.
Beijing has been signalling a policy shift this year towards services, as it seeks to redirect stimulus away from what it sees as sometimes wasteful investment in transport, housing and industrial infrastructure, towards potentially more productive areas.
Soft consumer demand has weighed on the economy, and measures taken so far have not reversed the trend. Per capita services consumption stood at 46.1% in 2025, well below the 70% recorded in the United States.
China’s new five-year plan has pledged to “significantly” raise the share of household consumption in the economy over the next five years from around 40% at present, though it did not set a specific target.
(with inputs from Reuters)
