Opening up of service sector vital to China, world

The opening up of China's service sector will accelerate the country's high-quality development, and provide more opportunities to the world market, said government official, expert, and entrepreneurs at the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia on Wednesday.

The opening up of the service sector may further improve the country's economic structure and create more job opportunities, said Yin Yong, vice mayor of Beijing, who stressed that China's service industry only took up 52 percent of its GDP last year, far less than the 70 percent world average and the 75 percent in developed countries.

"Forty-five percent of Chinese employees work at the service sector, while that in the developed countries is 70 percent," the vice-mayor said, adding that China's trade deficit in the service sector amounted to $265 billion last year. "Further opening up of the service sector is also conductive to fulfilling our commitments to the WTO," Yin added.

The mayor said that Beijing, the only service sector opening up pilot city nationwide, is making every effort to assist service enterprises settling in the city. The enterprise registration period was shortened from 23 days in 2017 to 3 days this year, with the whole process digitized. Beijing's experiences are open to the whole country, Yin added.