Published by ChinaMNC · Xinxing

China’s New Push on Services: What Foreign Founders Need to Know

China’s leadership signals a major push to expand and upgrade the services sector, with implications for foreign founders registering or operating a company in China. Key takeaways from the National Services Conference.

China’s Services Sector Gets a High-Level Boost

On April 7–8, 2026, Beijing hosted the National Services Conference, where President Xi Jinping issued important instructions on developing China’s services industry. Premier Li Qiang attended and delivered a speech, and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang gave the concluding remarks. For foreign founders building a business in China, these signals matter: they point to regulatory priorities, market opportunities, and the direction of policy support in the services sector.

Why Services Are in Focus

According to the instructions conveyed at the conference, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the country’s services sector has steadily expanded in scale and improved in quality and efficiency. It has played a significant role in supporting industrial upgrading, meeting people’s livelihood needs, and expanding employment. The conference made clear that services are now a key pillar of the economy.

The overarching approach emphasizes four themes: demand-driven development, reform breakthroughs, technology empowerment, and opening-up and cooperation. The goal is to implement a campaign to expand the capacity and improve the quality of services, extend producer services toward specialization and higher value-added segments, promote consumer services that are high-quality, diverse, and convenient, and cultivate more “China Service” brands. For foreign founders, this suggests that service-sector businesses—especially those bringing technology, expertise, or innovative models—may find a supportive policy environment.

What Premier Li Qiang Emphasized

Premier Li described the President’s instructions as clarifying the significance, principles, and key tasks for services development, providing direction for related work. He stressed the need to balance capacity expansion with quality improvement and to coordinate development with regulation, ensuring the sector is both vibrant and well-ordered.

Li outlined several trends to which services development should respond: demographic shifts, consumption upgrading, and industrial transformation. He called for differentiated, tiered approaches to services in key production and living areas, nurturing new growth points and raising the level of digital, intelligent, standardized, integrated, and internationalized development.

Specific directions included:

• Basic services: Make services for daily living more inclusive and higher quality.
• Upgraded services: Expand supply for residents seeking higher-quality life.
• Personalized services: Refine and tailor offerings to diverse consumer demands.
• Technology services: Accelerate the growth of R&D, design, and other specialized, high-end tech services.
• Advanced manufacturing services: Develop services that enhance value in production processes.
• Supporting professional services: Improve services that help realize market value.

Li also stressed using reform and innovation to drive work, understanding industry evolution, maintaining both flexibility (“letting the market work”) and effective regulation (“managing well”), actively expanding opening-up, and making policy support more targeted and effective. He called on departments and local governments to adopt a correct view of performance, strengthen coordination, and explore innovations.

Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang’s Closing Remarks

Ding Xuexiang said thinking and actions should be aligned with the President’s instructions and the Party Central Committee’s decisions. He highlighted four priorities:

• Innovation-driven development: Vigorously develop technology services, strengthen digital and intelligent services, and integrate manufacturing with services.
• Cost reduction and efficiency gains: Strengthen modern logistics, financial services, and business services to smooth economic circulation.
• Livelihood needs: Make daily life services more convenient, public services more efficiently matched, and culture, tourism, and sports services more innovative.
• Vitality enhancement: Deepen the national unified market, improve service standards, and expand institutional opening-up in services.

He also urged all regions and departments to adopt a correct view of performance and ensure implementation.

What This Means for Foreign Founders

For foreign entrepreneurs considering company registration in China or already operating there, the conference signals several practical takeaways:

• Policy support for service businesses: The emphasis on expanding and upgrading services suggests that service-sector ventures—such as tech services, logistics, financial services, business services, and consumer services—may benefit from a more favorable policy environment.
• Opening-up remains a priority: Repeated references to “opening-up and cooperation” and “expanding institutional opening-up” indicate that China continues to welcome foreign participation in services, though specific rules will apply.
• Regulation will be coordinated with development: The call for balancing “letting the market work” and “managing well” implies that while opportunities exist, compliance and regulatory awareness remain essential.
• Standardization and internationalization: Efforts to raise standardization and internationalization levels could make it easier for foreign-invested enterprises to align with domestic practices over time.

Foreign founders should note that the conference set direction rather than specific rules. Implementation will come through subsequent policies and local measures. Keeping abreast of these developments is advisable when planning market entry or expansion.

Next Steps for Foreign Founders

If you are evaluating opportunities in China’s services sector, the current policy climate appears supportive. However, company registration and operations still require careful navigation of legal, tax, and regulatory requirements. Working with local advisors can help you understand how the broader policy direction translates into specific requirements for your business.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Call to action: Foreign founders can contact ChinaMNC on WhatsApp / WeChat at +86 153 1898 8535 for help registering and operating a company in China.