Member Article

On November 23, 2023, the State Council published theOfficial Reply of the State Council on the Work Plan for Supporting Beijing in Promoting the Construction of a Comprehensive Demonstration Zone for Further Opening up the National Service Sector(the "Reply"). The Reply approves in principle theWork Plan for Supporting the Construction of Beijing's Comprehensive Demonstration Zone for Further Opening up the National Service Sector(the "2023 Plan"), and provides Beijing's current round of policies for further opening up the service sector at the highest administrative level. Based on the recent introduction of favorable policy tools to promote further economic recovery, the Reply signals "opening up", which can be regarded as a clear response to General Secretary Xi Jinping's oft-mentioned phrase that "the door of PRC's opening up will not be closed, but will only be wider". The Reply recites specific tasks to promote a deepening of reform; among these, further opening up fields in the service sector are the most prominent and will be the focus of this article.