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

A dozen people have been arrested following a devastating fire at a nightclub in North Macedonia that claimed 59 lives, with investigations at the site still ongoing, local officials said on Monday.

The fire broke out at the nightclub in Kocani Municipality in the early hours of Sunday morning, killing 59 people and injuring 163, including 45 in critical condition.

North Macedonia's Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski said on Monday that those arrested include managers, security personnel and ticketing staff at the nightclub.

The Mayor of Kocani Municipality, Ljupco Papazov, announced his resignation following the tragedy and expressed his willingness to be investigated.

Preliminary investigations showed that the blaze was triggered by a pyrotechnics display used by a live band who were performing on stage at the club. The fireworks used onstage were brought by the band, and the person responsible for operating them had died in the accident.

Hundreds gathered in Kocani's town center on Sunday evening to silently pay their respects, lighting candles to honor those who perished in the fire.

The small town of 30,000 people is struggling to come to terms with the scale of the tragedy, while North Macedonia has declared seven days of national mourning.

Dozen arrested after nightclub fire kills 59 in North Macedonia