2025 CIFTIS Insights: How Can China’s Service Trade Break Through?

Pop Mart made its debut at the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services as the exclusive partner in trendy culture branding. At Hall 1, its character-themed products—Star Ice Cream, DIMOO Cookies, and MOLLY Chocolates—drew crowds eager to photograph the displays and experience the brand’s immersive appeal.

Originating in Henan, Pop Mart has swiftly risen to global prominence in cultural consumption. Its Labubu IP erupted in popularity at home and abroad, creating widespread supply shortages. By June 30, the company had opened 571 stores across 18 countries, and in the first half of this year it reported revenue of RMB 13.88 billion (up 204.4%) and an adjusted net profit of RMB 4.71 billion (up 362.8%).

A representative of Pop Mart International Group emphasized that CIFTIS offers a vital platform to showcase the diversity and scalability of trend-culture IPs, delivering enriched emotional experiences and cultural value to consumers worldwide.

Global service trade has emerged as a new engine of growth, with exports reaching USD 8.9 trillion in 2024—up 9.9% and accounting for 60% of overall trade growth. Despite ranking second globally, China has endured a persistent service-trade deficit driven by structural shortcomings in its tertiary sector. Financial, consulting, and intellectual-property services see heavy imports, while labor-intensive exports such as tourism and transport remain underdeveloped.

Advancing service trade is key to transforming China from “Made in China” toward “Serviced by China” and “Created in China.” While Pop Mart bridges cultural barriers through IP-driven creativity, China’s broader manufacturing base must prioritize R&D innovation and develop knowledge-intensive, high-value services to compete globally.

An executive at a private chemical firm noted that technical consulting and solution services command higher added value than physical products. Historically dominated by Western providers, these service models are increasingly matched by Chinese companies as domestic R&D and technology capabilities advance.

Beijing HJ Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. exemplifies this shift. Its FWH-3000 heavy-lift unmanned helicopter, showcased at CIFTIS, offers extended endurance and high-altitude performance for logistics, medical rescue, and firefighting. The platform has been exported to markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Founder Wang Wei explained that overcoming foreign supply constraints on components such as elastic bearings once required design workarounds. Today, HJ Innovation controls its entire supply chain, with even national aerospace research institutes sourcing critical components from the company.

Deputy Director of Brand Communications Zhong Yunzhen described the company’s vertically integrated model, which spans upstream materials and engine R&D to downstream training and technical support—forming a cohesive, autonomous system.

China’s primary service-trade partners have long included the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and the EU. In recent years, however, Southeast Asia and other Belt and Road markets have surged, creating demand for infrastructure, digital-economy solutions, and e-commerce services. China is exporting comprehensive “China Service Packages,” from engineering and construction to digital payment platforms, smart-city systems, logistics frameworks, and e-commerce models.

“Pakistan is committed to developing its digital economy and needs China’s expertise and technology,” said Pakistani Ambassador Khalil Hashmi at the opening of the “Digital Pakistan Pavilion” on September 11.

At the same ceremony, Liu Zhai, Senior Vice President of Guolian Co., Ltd., announced plans to replicate its industrial-internet model in Pakistan, establishing advanced overseas warehouses as regional hubs for procurement, logistics, storage, distribution, technical services, and after-sales support.

Baixin Group, which provides business services to Chinese companies overseas, has expanded from a Hong Kong focus to a global network in over 100 countries, concentrating on Vietnam, Thailand, and other emerging Belt and Road markets, according to Business Center Director Xue Shengxia.

“Two years ago, our cases were mainly in Europe and the U.S. Now they increasingly involve Southeast Asia and the Middle East,” noted Ying Hanxiao, a lawyer at Zhejiang Tiance Law Firm.
Bai Li, Senior Manager at Shanghai Hongming Supply Chain Co., Ltd., likened the relationship between goods and services trade to purchasing patterns: if cross-border goods flows decline, logistics and delivery services also feel the impact, albeit with a lag.

Hongming Supply Chain specializes in integrated circuit industry services, offering end-to-end solutions for orders, customs clearance, warehousing, distribution, maintenance, and trade. This complex value chain commands high technical expertise and is vulnerable to external shocks.

Service-oriented firms are increasingly bundling products and services to boost added value and reshape competitiveness. Bai Li explained that the integrated circuit sector has long prepared for U.S. tech-control risks by stockpiling critical components under a bonded model to minimize tariff impact for clients.

The company also leverages AI tools to translate foreign correspondence in real time, auto-generate orders, and manage customs declarations—enabling around-the-clock, multilingual transactions.

Experts at CIFTIS underscored that cultivating a world-class business environment is essential for high-quality service-trade development. At the Service Trade Development Forum, Gao Peiyong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences emphasized that institutional openness underpins transparent, stable, and predictable conditions for market participants.

He highlighted the need to harmonize rules across property rights protection, industrial subsidies, environmental standards, labor protection, government procurement, e-commerce, and finance—creating an integrated framework that supports service-trade expansion.

CIFTIS, the world’s largest comprehensive service-trade exhibition, drew 54 countries, 21 international organizations, and nearly 2,000 enterprises this year, including nearly 500 Fortune 500 companies and leading firms from 27 of the top 30 service-trade nations and regions.