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

Tiangong Ultra, an upgraded version of the China-made "Tiangong" humanoid robot, is currently undergoing tests in preparation for a half-marathon next month in Beijing.

The race, set for April 13 in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area in the capital city's southeast, will feature both robotic and human athletes competing on the same route but on separate tracks to ensure safety for all participants.

The competition is open to global robot companies, research institutes, robot clubs and universities. So far, 23 organizations have signed up for the competition.

Developed by the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, Tiangong Ultra has a bigger size, longer legs, and a stronger hip compared to its old version. In addition, unlike Tiangong, which has two iron sheets as feet, Tiangong Ultra wears a pair of "shoes" to minimize impact on its feet and ankle joints from running, according to engineers at the center.

"Aside from upgrades to Tiangong's body and structure, we have also greatly improved its motion algorithm, strengthening its capabilities for gait planning, body coordination, and motion control," said Wei Jiaxing, director of branding and public relations at the center.

In a race between Tiangong and Tiangong Ultra, the upgraded version demonstrated larger strides, a more stable running form, and a significantly higher speed.

"Its highest speed can reach 12 kilometers per hour. Considering the stability and endurance of the Tiangong robot when running outdoors, we may slightly reduce the speed. But we are still very confident that it can complete the half marathon," Wei said.

Bolstered by strong capital investment, China' robotics industry is growing rapidly, with versatile applications becoming increasingly prominent across a wide range of fields, including industrial automation, healthcare and service industries.

According to a report on the humanoid robot industry released at the 2024 World AI Conference in Shanghai, China's humanoid robot market scale was approximately 2.76 billion yuan (about 381.28 million U.S. dollars) last year.

By 2029, it is expected to expand to 75 billion yuan (about 10.36 billion U.S. dollars), which would account for 32.7 percent of the global market.

Humanoid robot set to run Beijing half-marathon