Investors will soon be allowed much wider market access into
China's dormant service industry.
Vice-Premier Zeng
Peiyan made the commitment Wednesday to an audience that
included Microsoft's Bill Gates at the opening ceremony of an
international conference on the service industry.
Zeng said China should foster growth of its service sector
through more positive policies that aid sustainable development of
the national economy.
"China needs a thriving tertiary industry on its way to full
industrialization," said Zeng.
Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp, echoed that development of
the industry will not only benefit China's overall economy but also
that of the world.
He said changes in information technology and biological sectors
in recent years have brought many changes to the service
industry.
"China is bracing the changes in an exciting way," said
Gates.
Zeng and China's Minister of National Development and Reform
Commission Ma Kai said further development of the industry is still
a demanding task.
China's service industry lags far behind the world's
average.
Total output of China's tertiary industries accounted for just
32.3 percent of its entire economy. But the average rate for a
developing country is about 45 percent. The average rate in the
industrialized world is as high as 64 percent.
Norman R. Sorensen, chairman of US Coalition of Service
Industries, said China is likely to boost the current rate to 50
percent in the next 10 years.
"Then, China will be the world's No 3 economy, instead of the
current No 7," said Norman.
Ma said the State will ease restrictions on market access and
open sectors like foreign trade, tourism, banking, insurance, and
other areas gradually, in line with World Trade Organization (WTO)
rules.
The country will also try to funnel capital from various
channels to the service sector and speed up reform of railways,
airlines, telecommunications and public utilities.
He said international experience should be learnt in the
endeavor.
The government's latest efforts are focused on the China
International Conference on Tertiary Industry, which started
yesterday in Beijing and is scheduled to end Saturday.
Ma said the financial service, logistics, tourism and
intermediary service are the major areas of government concern.
"The sectors are essential to the development of China's
industrialization," said Ma.
Economists said the Chinese Government should deregulate the
market and introduce more competition into the service
industry.
"That's the best and most urgent measure the government should
take," said Lin Yueqin, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences.
Meanwhile, he said, the government should formulate rational
regulations for crucial sectors to guide the industry's
development.
(China Daily July 1, 2004)