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By Wang Lin, researcher at Zhengbang Think Tank

Premier Li Qiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council on August 19, which reviewed and approved the Opinions on Promoting High-quality Development of Trade in Services with High-level Opening-up and the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2024 Edition). The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to improve the level of liberalization and facilitation of trade in services, fully implement the negative list for cross-border trade in services, promote comprehensive pilot demonstrations for expanding the opening-up of the service industry, and promote the cross-border flow of resources such as talent, capital, technological achievements, and data.

On the same day, the highly acclaimed Black Myth: Wukong, China's first 3A (high-quality, high-volume, high-cost) game, swept the global social media and topped the best-selling charts in more than ten countries including the United States, France, Italy, and Canada. This action role-playing game, set against the backdrop of Chinese mythology, brings a dreamlike world of the Westward Journey to global players through a magnificent fantasy story and exquisitely realistic graphics. The meticulously crafted Black Myth: Wukong has been a huge success and has become a milestone in the Chinese gaming industry and a landmark event in the "going global" of Chinese culture.

From an industrial perspective, Black Myth: Wukong is also a microcosm of China's further deepening of opening up in promoting high-quality development of trade in services. Modern service industry is characterized by knowledge-intensive, technology-intensive and capital-intensive, and is an important direction for industrial upgrading. With the rapid iteration and leapfrog development of digital technology and artificial intelligence, the scale of the game industry has continued to expand and has occupied an increasingly important position in trade in services.

Service trade is an important driver of technological progress. Take the game industry as an example. Meeting the entertainment needs of players, providing diversified entertainment experiences, and enriching the spiritual life of players are just the appearance of the product. The development and operation of games are closely tied to game engines, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, etc. The so-called "3A masterpieces" are also vividly interpreted as "A lot of money", "A lot of resources" and "A lot of time". In order to provide a better gaming experience, game companies need to be in the competitive environment of the global market, benchmark against advanced ones, and continuously carry out technological innovation and R&D investment to ensure product leadership and the best immersive experience.

Trade in services can bring significant economic benefits. Taking Black Myth: Wukong as an example, as of the morning of August 21, the number of people online at the same time in this game has exceeded 2.2 million, and the sales volume has exceeded 1.5 billion yuan. The popularity of Black Myth: Wukong has also driven the coordinated development of related industries, such as e-sports, live broadcasting, and peripheral product manufacturing. With the help of scene prototypes in the game, cultural and tourism departments in Shanxi, Chongqing, Fujian and other places have launched "Destiny Man Edition Advertisements" and invited game players to experience local cultural landmarks offline.

Trade in services also has irreplaceable social benefits. For example, Chinese-style and Chinese-tide game products such as Black Myth: Wukong, with their immersive Chinese cultural elements, have promoted games to become the most effective carrier for cross-border cultural communication, greatly enhancing cultural exchanges and cultural integration between different countries and regions. According to recent data, the revenue growth rate of China's self-developed games in overseas markets is significantly higher than that in the domestic market, providing new impetus for the growth of China's trade in services.

The development of trade in services not only has important economic, cultural and social value, but also plays a positive role in enhancing the country's soft power. Through the "spillover effect" of technological and knowledge innovation, it will also drive the transformation and upgrading of other industries. The fields of tourism, entertainment, health care and so on are all closely related to the daily life and consumption of the Chinese people. Promoting the high-quality development of trade in services with high-level opening up will greatly enrich and improve the supply quality of related products and services and meet the ever-increasing consumption needs of the Chinese people.

In 2023, my country's per capita GDP has reached US$12,690, the middle-income group continues to expand, consumption continues to grow, and the demand for various types of service consumption has increased significantly. With the revolutionary breakthrough of generative artificial intelligence, digital technology has accelerated the digitalization of service trade, and new formats and models have continued to emerge, becoming an important force in promoting consumption and unblocking domestic and international dual circulation.

Global economic integration is a fact. Although there have been some noises and even partial setbacks in recent years, the overall trend of globalization has not changed and is still deepening. To achieve high-quality development of trade in services, on the one hand, the internal environment on which it depends needs to be continuously optimized, and on the other hand, the external environment on which it depends needs to be continuously expanded. Only by continuously expanding the depth and height of opening up to the outside world in a good development environment can trade in services achieve sustained, rapid and healthy development.

First, we need to further optimize the policy and regulatory environment. We need to improve the policy and regulatory system to create a market-oriented, legal, and internationalized first-class business environment for domestic and foreign service trade enterprises. On the one hand, we need to strengthen policy support for service trade, and formulate and introduce more fair and reasonable tax, fiscal, and financial support policies. On the other hand, we need to continue to improve the intellectual property law and regulatory system, build an efficient intellectual property law enforcement mechanism, crack down on infringements, and improve law enforcement efficiency and transparency. We need to encourage enterprises to increase investment in innovation, create more service products and technologies with independent intellectual property rights, and continuously enhance international competitiveness.

Secondly, further optimize the market opening environment. Expand the opening up of trade in services, improve the level of trade in services facilitation, accelerate the reform of market access in the field of trade in services, relax restrictions on foreign investment access, simplify the approval process for trade in services, and improve approval efficiency. Promote the construction of a "single window" for international trade and realize one-stop handling of trade in services-related businesses. Actively participate in the formulation of global trade in services rules and strive to gain more voice in the market. Strengthen cooperation with international organizations such as the WTO, APEC, and GSTC (Global Trade in Services Alliance), promote the construction of a more fair, open and transparent global trade in services system, and strive for a more favorable international market environment for Chinese companies.

Third, further optimize the talent support environment. The development of service trade is highly dependent on professional talents, especially in knowledge-intensive fields such as finance, technology, and cultural creativity. Further sort out and optimize talent introduction policies, promote the free flow of talents, and attract and retain high-end service trade talents at home and abroad to work and start businesses in China. Build an international talent exchange platform to tell the story of Chinese entrepreneurship through the good development of outstanding talents, including foreigners in China, so that more overseas companies and talents can understand the opportunities for the development of China's service trade and provide them with a stage to showcase their talents and fair competition.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out that it is necessary to improve the high-level opening-up system and mechanism, implement the free trade pilot zone upgrading strategy, and accelerate the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port. Under the guidance of the institutional opening-up that is promoted at the national level and is aligned with international high standards, the service trade sector will be prompted to achieve a higher level of alignment with international rules in terms of rules, regulations, management, standards, etc. For example, Hainan Free Trade Port has the unique institutional advantage and openness advantage of "five major freedoms and conveniences + safe and orderly flow of data", which is a first-mover advantage, and is more conducive to attracting domestic and foreign service trade enterprises to gather, so as to build an internationally competitive service industry system and become an important window and trade highland for China's service trade opening-up.

Executive Producer: Zou Ming

Producer: Gao Mingyong

Review: Zheng Xinping