On November 4th, the Ministry of Commerce released data showing that China's service trade steadily increased in the first three quarters of 2025, with a total import and export volume of 5936.22 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. Among them, exports amounted to 260.15 billion yuan, an increase of 14.4%; Imports amounted to 3334.72 billion yuan, an increase of 2.8%; The trade deficit in services was 733.22 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 238.24 billion yuan. Professor Chen Jianwei from the National Institute of Opening up at the University of International Business and Economics stated in an interview with reporters that in the first three quarters of this year, China's service trade achieved stable growth under the strong driving force of exports, and the trend of structural optimization was evident. Among them, the rapid growth of exports is the fundamental reason for the significant narrowing of the service trade deficit. This pattern of "strong exports, weak imports" reflects the improvement of domestic service industry competitiveness and the relative weakness of domestic service consumption. Knowledge intensive services are the main force of China's service trade. Data shows that in the first three quarters, the import and export of knowledge intensive services reached 2.27059 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.4%. The export of knowledge intensive services reached 1317.76 billion yuan, an increase of 9.2%; The import of knowledge intensive services reached 952.83 billion yuan, an increase of 2.8%; The surplus was 364.93 billion yuan, an increase of 85.73 billion yuan compared to the same period last year. Song Siyuan, Associate Researcher at the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters that China's international recognition and market competitiveness in the field of professional services continue to improve, and its ability to "go global" in areas such as technical services and intellectual property has been enhanced. The export volume of high-end professional services, including research and development design, legal consulting, inspection and testing, has steadily increased, further expanding the trade surplus of knowledge intensive services. In the first three quarters, knowledge intensive service exports grew rapidly, accounting for over 50% of service exports. ”Chen Jianwei stated that the rapid growth of knowledge intensive service exports is mainly due to China's continuous investment and competitiveness in the global digital economy and high-tech service fields. The digital transformation of "Made in China" and "Services in China" is accelerating its outward output. Since the beginning of this year, the dividend of travel service policies has accelerated. Data shows that travel service exports have grown the fastest. In the first three quarters, the import and export of travel services reached 1637.25 billion yuan, an increase of 8.8%. Among them, exports increased by 54.4% and imports increased by 2.7%. Chen Jianwei stated that since the beginning of this year, China has continued to implement entry facilitation policies, such as visa free policies for multiple countries, "buy and refund" tax refunds for departure, and payment facilitation measures, which have greatly promoted foreigners coming to China. Given that global business and travel activities are still recovering and the positive policy effects will continue to be released, it is expected that travel service exports will maintain a high growth trend in the fourth quarter of this year and 2026, but the growth rate will gradually slow down after the base is raised. It is worth mentioning that the latest tax data shows that since the implementation of relevant policy measures, the number of people handling departure tax refunds has significantly increased, and the amount of tax refunds has significantly increased. In the first three quarters of this year, the number of overseas tourists who processed departure tax refunds increased by 229.8% year-on-year, and the amount of tax refunds increased by 97.4% year-on-year. When it comes to how to maintain steady growth in China's service trade, Song Siyuan believes that in the future, it is necessary to comprehensively promote policy implementation, industrial support, international cooperation, and continuously enhance the global competitiveness of service trade. Specifically, firstly, strengthen policy empowerment and promote the improvement of export quality and efficiency in key areas. Accelerate the implementation of facilitation measures, support enterprises to carry out cross-border research and development, accelerate the transformation of intellectual property rights, solve the problem of "light asset financing difficulties" for enterprises, and amplify the surplus advantage of knowledge intensive services. Secondly, we will strengthen the support for the service trade industry, promote the deep integration of service trade and manufacturing, accelerate the digital transformation of service trade, guide enterprises to strengthen independent research and development of core technologies in key areas, and enhance the core competitiveness of service trade. At the same time, we should attach importance to the overall layout of domestic industries, establish a gradient transfer mechanism, and comprehensively enhance the service export capacity of various regions. Thirdly, deepen international cooperation, strengthen the construction of mutual recognition system, and improve mechanisms for cross-border inspection and testing qualification mutual recognition. Implement precise docking in key areas to meet the service needs of relevant countries. (New Society)