China widens service sector openness to foreign investors in multiple areas

China's service industry is widening its openness to foreign investors in fields such as value-added telecommunications and healthcare so as to advance the high-level opening up.

Not long ago, 10-plus foreign-funded enterprises, including T-Systems P.R. China and Siemens Digital Technology (Shenzhen), were granted permission for pilot operations of value-added telecommunication business, which is expected to bring more diversified services and products to Chinese consumers and further stimulate market vitality.

"Currently, we can sell 300 products and solutions on our platform to better serve the local market. Based on the expansion of such pilot operation, we can also better serve innovators and operate the developer ecosystem on our platform," said Qin Cheng, vice president of Siemens (China) Co., Ltd.

In addition to the telecommunications sector, medical care, biotechnology, and education are also important areas for the country's orderly expansion of opening up.

At present, China has permitted pilot operations of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in nine places, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Nanjing, with two such hospitals approved in the pilot areas.

According to the government work report, China will open wider to the outside world at a high level this year and promote the orderly opening up of the Internet, culture and other fields.

"We will actively study and formulate pilot plans for the orderly expansion of opening up in the Internet, culture, education and other fields, broaden key platforms for opening up, such as pilot and demonstration provinces and cities, pilot free trade zones, and Hainan Free Trade Port, based on the country's service sector, and continue to explore pilot operations in a wider range and in more fields," said Zhao Yang, inspector of the Department of Foreign Investment Administration of the Ministry of Commerce.

The latest data showed that the service sector's actual utilization of foreign capital from January to February this year reached 120.49 billion yuan (around 16.65 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for more than 70 percent of the total, while 7,574 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established nationwide, an year-on-year increase of 5.8 percent.

China widens service sector openness to foreign investors in multiple areas

Israel has vowed to continue with its airstrikes on Gaza, after a fresh wave of bombardment led to the collapse of a two-month ceasefire early Tuesday, with its officials saying that the attacks will not stop until it secures the release of all remaining hostages from Hamas captivity.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army conducted intense airstrikes on northern and central Gaza Strip, marking the most violent escalation since a ceasefire agreement took effect on Jan. 19.

According to Israeli media reports, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement following Tuesday's airstrikes that if Hamas does not release all hostages, "the gates of hell will open in Gaza," and Hamas will encounter the Israeli military "with an intensity they have never known before."

Meanwhile, Danny Danon, Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), also said in a post on his social media account that Israel will show "no mercy" until all hostages are returned.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced early Tuesday that Netanyahu and Katz had ordered the military to "operate against Hamas with increasingly powerful military force."

According to the statement, the move followed what it described as Hamas's "repeated refusal to release hostages" and rejection of proposals presented by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and other mediators.

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, Hamas accused Netanyahu and Israeli government of "resuming aggression and a war of genocide" against civilians in the Gaza Strip, holding Israel fully responsible for the repercussions of the renewed escalation.

Hamas accused Netanyahu's government of deliberately overturning the ceasefire agreement, thereby exposing prisoners in Gaza to an uncertain fate.

Hamas further appealed to the United Nations and the UN Security Council to "convene urgently to adopt a resolution obligating Israel to immediately halt its aggression and implement Resolution 2735, which calls for an end to hostilities and a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip."

Israel says Gaza strikes won't stop until release of all hostages; Hamas decries "war of genocide"