Commentary
BEIJING – As the world economy is shivering in a harsh winter amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) opened in Beijing on Friday brings a ray of warmth to boost economic recovery and crack open new space for global growth.
As one of the world’s most comprehensive fairs for trade in services, the CIFTIS provides until tomorrow both online and offline platforms for exhibitions, forums and business negotiations in different services trade sectors.
The CIFTIS is one of the nation’s three major open exhibition platforms, together with the China Import and Export Fair, popularly known as Canton Fair, and the China International Import Expo, which have yielded fruitful results over past years.
The world economy is now grappling with perhaps the worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s, and is desperately searching for a fresh and strong boost.
The fair can act as an important gateway for high-quality international services to enter the ever-opening mainland Chinese market, and for the country to promote its own competitive services brand names among customers worldwide.
China has become an important growth driver in services trade in recent years, according to a 2019 report issued by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Central government statistics show that the Chinese mainland’s trade in services grew from US$654.2 billion in 2015 to US$785 billion dollars in 2019, with annual average growth hitting 4.7 percent, ranking second in the world.
Despite the disruption brought about by the pandemic, the central authorities’ relentless drive to further press ahead with the country’s domestic consumption upgrade signifies potential business opportunities for its services trading partners all around the globe.
According to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), in the first half of this year, the mainland’s services trade totaled US$320 billion, with the trade deficit narrowed by 46.1 percent year-on-year.
And by further bolstering services trade, the country is actively optimizing its trade structure, and deepening its participation in the global value chain.
Internet Plus
Emerging sectors in services trade featuring digitalization and Internet Plus technologies are a highlight at this year’s CIFTIS, and boast bright prospects for faster development in the post-pandemic era.
From hi-tech financial services, intelligent sports, 5G telecommunications to service robots, manless driving and online education, the CIFTIS booths present a wide array of edge-cutting industries, offering a glimpse of the wave of the future in global industrial advancement.
Facing this trend, it is essential for countries worldwide to seize those new growth opportunities as they are striving to weather the COVID economic impact, and jumpstart recovery as soon as possible. And the fair can serve as a platform for businesses in those emerging sectors to conduct face-to-face exchanges for future cooperation, an utterly rare chance amid the raging pandemic.
‘De-coupling’ hype
The CIFTIS also sends out a strong signal that open cooperation and free trade still prevail in the world, given the rise of trade protectionism and economic nationalism in recent years and the hype of “de-coupling” theory since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Statistics show that this year’s CIFTIS has attracted 17,000 companies from the mainland and abroad. More than 100 international organizations, embassies in Beijing, commerce associations and institutions are also taking part in the fair. Those enthusiastic participants can show that the need for broader and deeper connections across the globe is growing rather than shrinking.
Firm belief in free trade
And by holding the event, Beijing has once again demonstrated its firm belief in free trade and an open global economy, as well as its rock-solid determination to further open up its market to the wider world.
In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, Beijing has made impressive and widely-acknowledged contributions to helping pull the then hard-hit global economy out of a grievous contraction.
As the global economy is facing the risk of being thrust again into deep freeze, the CIFTIS 2020 has opened up another opportunity to China and the rest of the world to join efforts, and ignite a new spark for fast and steady global recovery.
The six-day fair ends tomorrow. – Xinhua
– Minor edits and subheadings by The Macau Post Daily
An AI robot specialized in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) provides a health check service at the service robots exhibition area of the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing yesterday. The fair ends tomorrow. – Xinhua
