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
China's western regions are accelerating the construction of new energy bases in barren, rocky areas and deserts to support the transition to low-carbon energy and boost green development.
The rapid development of large-scale wind and photovoltaic power facilities in these challenging environments is a critical strategic move for China as it seeks to promote a clean and low-carbon transformation of its energy sector.
Sandy areas, rocky areas, and deserts have fragile ecosystems, but they are rich in wind and solar energy resources, providing a natural advantage for the development of clean energy. The construction of new-energy bases can also fully leverage the land, solar, and wind resource advantages of the western region and transform them into economic benefits.
On the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, construction is in full swing for a 10-million-kilowatt hybrid power base that integrates wind, solar, coal, and storage facilities.
The power base is expected to provide 5 million kilowatts of reliable electricity to Sichuan and Chongqing during the peak hours once in operation.
"We have so far finished flattening 80 hectares of land at the designated sites. This year, we will further explore technological innovation in six aspects, including the integrated control of new energy bases and AI-aided power generation prediction," said Wang Liang, Ruoqiang site manager, Xinjiang Branch of China Three Gorges Corporation.
As a key focus of China's green energy transition during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, the construction of new-energy bases, particularly in sandy areas, rocky areas and deserts, made significant progress. The first batch of projects was accelerated to be completed by the end of 2024, while the second and third batches were accelerating construction.
As of the end of 2024, the first batch of bases had an installed capacity of 91.99 million kilowatts, accounting for approximately 95 percent of the total planned capacity for the first batch projects, with 90.79 million kilowatts already in operation.
"The planning and construction of new energy bases in the sandy areas, rocky areas and deserts has created a new path of coordinated development combining energy, ecology and economy. It is expected that by 2030, China's planned new energy installation capacity in these areas will exceed 300 million kilowatts," said Liu Qiang, the Director of the Electric Power Development Research Institute.
Construction of new-energy bases in western region picks up pace
