Germany is China's largest trading partner and source of investment and technology in the EU. German high technology is lacking in China, which is at the low end of the industrial chain, while China has cheap labor, high foreign exchange reserves and strong manufacturing capacity. Therefore, combining German technology with China's production capacity can promote the rapid development of the service industries of the two countries. Under the circumstances that there are still many uncertainties in the world economy, Sino-German economic and trade relations have not weakened, but have become closer. On the one hand, Germany is facing difficulties due to the debt crisis, which leads to the break of many enterprises' capital chains, and it has technology but lacks financial support; On the other hand, with the continuous strengthening of China's national strength and the improvement of German enterprises' strength, the demand and desire of German enterprises to go abroad are increasing day by day. German technology market has always been an area that China expects to cooperate with, and technology trade will become the focus of Sino-German trade cooperation.

First, the process and characteristics of Sino-German service trade cooperation

(A) Sino-German service trade cooperation process

1. Education cooperation

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany, exchanges and cooperation in the field of education have been continuously strengthened, including student exchanges, high-level personnel training, scientific research joint, inter-school cooperation and other forms. According to statistics, by the end of 20 10, the number of German students studying in China had reached 296 16, and there were more than 4,800 German students studying in China. In the field of higher education, in 2002, China and Germany signed the Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Higher Education Diplomas, which was the first such agreement between China and western developed countries. In the field of cooperative education, Nanjing University and Georg of G? ttingen, Germany? Sino-German Law School, Tongji University Sino-German College and Qingdao University of Science and Technology Sino-German College of Science and Technology jointly established with August University have become models of Sino-German educational cooperation. In the field of vocational education, Germany is China's earliest and largest partner. During the period of 1994, the Chinese and German governments issued the Joint Statement on Strengthening Cooperation in Vocational Education. In the past ten years, with the joint efforts of both sides, 32 Sino-German vocational education entity projects have been built, which are mainly divided into vocational education training institutions and vocational education service institutions. Sino-German cooperation in this field has promoted the change of China's concept of vocational education. German "dual system" vocational education model makes China's vocational education pay more attention to practicality and service; In the field of language education, Sino-German cooperation has established and put into operation 1 1 Confucius Institute, and many German educational institutions have also carried out German education in China. Sino-German educational cooperation will continue to develop in the mode of combining government support with non-governmental exchanges, and rely on the framework of Sino-German educational service cooperation to push the educational cooperation between the two countries to a new level and height.

2. Cultural cooperation

Cultural exchange and cooperation is an important way to enhance mutual understanding between countries, and China and Germany attach great importance to cooperation in the cultural field. On June 5438+065438+ 10, 2005, China and Germany signed the Agreement on Cultural Cooperation between the Government of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, which promoted the cultural exchange between China and Germany at a higher level. Sino-German cultural exchanges and cooperation in the fields of art and music are very active, and artists of the two countries spread each other's culture through visits, performances and exhibitions. 200 1 China, as the guest of honor of the 3rd Berlin Asia-Pacific Week, held a two-week "China Culture Festival" in Germany, which set off a cultural upsurge in China. In 2009, China was invited as the guest country of Frankfurt Book Fair, which is the largest and most influential cultural exchange activity held by China publishing industry abroad so far. 20 1 1 In April, China National Museum, together with Berlin National Museum, Dresden National Art Collection and Bavarian National Painting Collection, held a large-scale theme exhibition "The Art of Enlightenment" in Beijing, which was the first time that three German museums jointly held an exhibition outside Europe. In 20 12, China held the "China Culture Year" in Germany on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany, and held a variety of cultural activities in different cities in Germany.

(B) the characteristics of Sino-German service trade cooperation

1. Strong complementarity

German science and technology are developed, and the manufacturing-based producer service industry is strong, while China is rich in labor resources and has obvious advantages in resource-intensive industries. There are many opportunities for Sino-German cooperation and a solid foundation for cooperation.

2. Wide field

There are more and more cooperation between China and Germany in various fields and levels of service trade. Cooperation in traditional service areas such as transportation and tourism has grown rapidly, as has cooperation in service areas such as finance and investment.

Step 3 deepen the level

At present, China has basically fulfilled the service industry opening standards promised when it joined the WTO. Many service sectors, including banking, insurance, securities, telecommunications, construction, distribution, law, tourism and transportation, have greatly improved their market access to foreign service providers. Germany has obvious advantages in the development of capital-intensive emerging service industries and low-carbon economy, which is conducive to increasing Sino-German cooperation in existing fields and expanding the scale of cooperation.

Second, to strengthen Sino-German cooperation in service trade countermeasures and suggestions

(A) China should adhere to the gradual opening of the service market and introduce a competitive mechanism.

Due to the late start and low level, the openness of China's service trade is not high, especially in emerging service industries such as finance and insurance, and foreign multinational companies are less involved. In view of the important role of service trade in economic development, improving the openness of service industry is one of the important ways for China's foreign economic development. However, for China, opening up cannot happen overnight. At present, China's service trade is still in the growth stage, and it does not have the ability to ensure the healthy and smooth development of its own industry in the fierce international market. Therefore, the gradual opening-up policy is a wise choice to open China's service market. In the process of gradual opening up, we should first combine the development status and characteristics of China's service trade, and open up by industry and region, from east to west and from strong to weak, on the premise of conforming to international rules and ensuring sufficient development space for the service industry.

(2) Accelerate the upgrading of Sino-German cooperation in service trade.

Although Germany advocates recognizing China's full market economy status, the EU, as a unified big market, has not really recognized it. As the leading country of the European Union, Germany should take more influential actions to make the European Union recognize China's full market economy status, which will help China and Germany actively promote a higher level of service trade cooperation. At the same time, China will further strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, standardize and improve the investment environment of service trade, make the China market more transparent, standardized, convenient and dynamic, actively push bilateral trade and service cooperation to a new level, and create favorable conditions for the industrial transformation and upgrading of both sides and the revitalization and development of service economy. The China government should encourage the expansion of investment in German high-tech enterprises, and Germany should also relax export restrictions on emerging technologies such as high-end manufacturing, aerospace, innovative industries, financial services, energy conservation and environmental protection, which is conducive to the balanced and sustained growth of bilateral trade.

(3) Broaden the fields of service trade cooperation and deepen service trade cooperation in all directions.

In order to cope with the complicated international economic situation, Germany should continue to strengthen its confidence and expand its service trade cooperation with China: First, broaden the scope of service trade cooperation. Germany is very strong in high-end manufacturing, and the producer services extended from high-end manufacturing include industrial design, market research, software development and other fields, which is an important field for deepening cooperation between China and Germany in the future. Second, China should seize the service outsourcing opportunity of German service industry transfer. At present, service transfer has become an important means to cut costs, and Germany is also actively carrying out industrial transfer. China should seize this powerful opportunity, actively promote infrastructure construction, speed up the formulation and improvement of relevant laws and regulations, improve research and development capabilities, establish and improve service quality standards, and strengthen intellectual property protection. The third is to strengthen humanities, culture and information exchange. German and other western countries don't know enough about China and have deep prejudice. They only see the economic progress of China, but they don't admit that this progress is the support of the political and social system behind it. Trade in services is different from trade in goods, and cultural factors are often involved in cooperation. China and Germany should build a higher-level cultural exchange platform to promote the mutual communication and exchange of humanities and cultures between the two sides.