China News Service, Beijing, September 11 (Reporters Zhou Zhaojun, Lu Shaowei, Xie Longfei) The 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services ("Services Trade Fair") is being held in Beijing Shougang Park. During this period, several senior executives of participating foreign-funded enterprises pointed out in exclusive interviews with reporters from China News Service that the institutional dividends of China's expansion of opening up continue to be released, and the development prospects of service trade are broad. They will continue to increase investment and business layout in China, and are willing to resonate with the high-quality development of China's economy and enable two-way empowerment.
From "Made in China" to "Created in China" to "Export of Chinese Services", the upgrading and iteration of Chinese industries is reshaping the layout logic of foreign companies in China. Official data shows that in the first half of this year, foreign investment in China's high-tech industries increased by 33.2% year-on-year, accounting for 42.4%, a record high; investment in the modern service industry accounted for 57%.
In the eyes of many foreign companies, China is not only an important "sales market" and "cost center", but also an innovation engine driving global product iteration.
D&B, a commercial service organization that made its debut at the Service Trade Fair, focused on demonstrating its upgraded capability system for the AI era and its newly launched cross-border investment and trade database.
Wu Guangyu, President of Dun & Bradstreet China, introduced that the mobile product "Longyicha" developed by the Chinese team for the local market integrates global enterprise query, overseas equity penetration and other capabilities into the mobile terminal. Its mobile and inclusive product ideas and Chinese market experience have become important references for global product iterations.
Zhang Xinhua, partner-designate of the marketing department of KPMG in Northern China, pointed out that China is accelerating from the "world factory" to a global innovation center. In new productivity fields such as artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, local innovation forces have become globally competitive and are deeply integrated into and leading the global technology research and development pattern. At this service trade conference, KPMG focused on displaying innovative solutions in areas such as digitalization, covering core tracks such as companies going overseas, service consumption, and energy transformation. This move is a sign of its optimism about the growth potential of China's innovation market.
Behind the increased innovation is the firm confidence of foreign-funded enterprises in the long-term development of the Chinese market, and the strategic choice of the entire chain to deeply integrate into the local industrial ecology.
As a representative of foreign-funded enterprises in the consumer field, McDonald's development trajectory in China is the epitome of this trend. Since entering the Chinese market in 1990, McDonald's has deployed more than 8,000 restaurants across the country, serving more than 1.4 billion consumers annually, and has maintained an expansion pace of opening 1,000 new stores every year for many years.
Gu Lei, chief impact officer of McDonald's China, said that the confidence for this steady expansion comes from confidence in the long-term resilience of the Chinese consumer market. Today, the role of McDonald's stores has undergone a profound upgrade, from a single catering consumption point to an important urban business node that connects the farm-to-table industrial chain, digital operations, and community services.
In the field of medicine and health, Eli Lilly is accelerating the establishment of a full-chain layout in China covering R&D, production and commercialization. At this service trade fair, Eli Lilly focused on displaying innovative treatment solutions in the fields of metabolic diseases, neuroscience and other fields, as well as the collaborative innovation results of industry, academia, research and medicine achieved by relying on the dual platforms of China Medical Innovation Center and Beijing Innovation Incubator.
Dehlan, Eli Lilly's vice president and general manager of China, said that China is a crucial market in Eli Lilly's global strategy. Relying on Beijing's policy and scientific research advantages, Lilly is accelerating the construction of a full-chain layout covering R&D, production and commercialization, deeply integrating into China's pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem, and continuing to fulfill its long-term commitment to deepen local development.
The continued confidence of foreign companies is rooted in China's steady progress in opening up the service industry and the continued growth of service trade.
In recent years, China has continued to relax the entry threshold for foreign investment and promote reforms to facilitate cross-border payments and cross-border data flows, bringing real development convenience to foreign-invested enterprises. Wu Guangyu said that these institutional arrangements provide a clear path for enterprises to carry out cross-border data flows, Internet information services and product innovation in compliance with regulations.
