The trend of international service trade in the era of knowledge economy and China's countermeasures

International service trade has gradually emerged and developed with the progress of science and technology, the adjustment and upgrading of industrial structure, the frequent international cultural exchanges and the development of international investment, and has now become a new field of trade competition among countries and a new growth point of the world economy. The 21th century is recognized as the century of knowledge economy. As an important part of the world economy, international service trade will undoubtedly undergo unprecedented profound changes under the development and function of knowledge economy. It is an important task for us to correctly judge and grasp the development trend of international service trade under the influence of knowledge economy, and make positive policy adjustments in combination with the present situation of China's service trade and the requirements of joining WTO. This paper tries to make a rough discussion on this issue.

development trend of international service trade in the era of knowledge economy

With the rise and development of knowledge economy, service industry and international service trade will present the following five development trends:

1. Economization of industrial structure services Compared with industrial economy, knowledge economy will undergo fundamental changes in industrial content. The pillar of the industry in the industrial economy era is the secondary industry, that is, the manufacturing industry. In the knowledge economy era, providing knowledge and information services will become the mainstream of society, and the service industry will penetrate into every corner of our lives at an alarming rate, showing extremely rich and diverse forms. From the industrial revolution of the last century to the sixties and seventies of this century, the richest enterprises expanding everywhere have always been industrial enterprises. Today, with the dawn of knowledge economy, more and more banks, comprehensive trading companies, land, sea and air transportation companies, telephone and telegraph companies and software development companies have entered the ranks of the world's top 511. At present, services in developed countries have accounted for more than 61% of gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. Especially in the United States, the output value of service industry accounts for more than 75% of GDP, providing 81% of jobs. The present situation of service industry in developed countries indicates the historical direction of the evolution of economic structure and industrial structure in the world in the era of knowledge economy. Moreover, with the further development of economic globalization, the manufacturing industry has also begun to show the trend of "business service".

The service industry has become the leading industry in the era of knowledge economy. Firstly, the development of science and technology has greatly promoted the specialization and refinement of division of labor, which has led to the differentiation of economic organization forms, thus increasing the demand for services. All kinds of non-core businesses that were originally undertaken by enterprises are generally outsourced to professional and efficient service providers. Moreover, with the further development of global economic integration, the competition among enterprises will be more and more focused on mastering new knowledge, new information and new skills. Whoever is stingy to buy various professional service products may fall behind in the new round of competition. The role of these factors has greatly increased the social demand for productive services; Second, the progress of science and technology leads to the increase of supply, the improvement of labor productivity, the increase of people's spare time and disposable wealth, which greatly expands the new field of life service consumption; Third, the modern labor tools used in the manufacturing and circulation process in the era of knowledge economy require the service industry to provide higher quality service products, which in turn promotes the development and growth of the service industry and strengthens the influence and control of the service industry on the whole economic process; Fourth, the extensive use of knowledge and information makes the service industry become the main body of product value-added, and wealth is increasingly concentrated in the service industry; Fifth, the structural characteristics of the service economy itself meet the requirements of the knowledge economy era. For example, the information industry, including information products and information services, is bound to be in the central position in the era of knowledge economy, and the education industry is bound to become the leading industry of knowledge economy.

2. Technical knowledge intensification of service trade structure

In the era of knowledge economy, the internal structure of international service trade has changed, and knowledge-based service trade will dominate. The so-called knowledge-based service industry refers to those "high value-added" service industries that use highly skilled personnel, knowledge and technology play a major role, and have an important impact on the trend and trajectory of social and economic growth. Referring to the "Reference List of Service Departments" listed by the former General Agreement on Tariffs, such services generally include: legal services, management services, engineering design services and computer-related services in professional services; Information and data services; Financial services (including bank deposit services, services related to financial market management, financial loans, other loan businesses and services related to the bond market); Freight insurance, non-freight insurance, reinsurance and services attached to insurance in insurance business. Although there are differences in the above-mentioned various service industries in different fields, they have the same feature, that is, the products they provide are all based on knowledge, and the core of the transaction is the knowledge contained in various services. In recent years, the rapid development of service trade is mainly based on the rapidly growing knowledge-based service industry with high technology as the carrier. The opening of knowledge-based service industry is listed as one of the two main topics in the Millennium Round of WTO negotiations, which shows that all countries, especially developed countries, recognize and grasp this trend.

the reason why knowledge-based service products can become the main trade objects is that the "time-space compression effect" brought by information technology to international trade greatly enhances the liquidity of knowledge-based service products, making them relatively storable, priced and traded easily. In the era of knowledge economy, the digitalization and coding of knowledge existence forms and the computerization and networking of knowledge activities have refreshed the relationship between knowledge and industry and economy. Now, low-cost, high-bandwidth communication equipment, digital networks and advanced integrated software systems are making services that were difficult or impossible to carry out become exchangeable objects. For example, in the United States, which is at the forefront of knowledge economy, there are more and more so-called "the sun never sets" software companies, which move their main entities to countries that have no business relations with them and recruit employees on the spot, while their decision makers, senior managers and senior technical developers conduct software development 24 hours a day through network command in the United States, and then send their software products directly to another country through electronic means; Second, the increasing reward of knowledge-based service industry has enhanced the investment and competition of various countries in this field. A study by McKinsey & Company, a well-known international consulting firm, holds that by the beginning of the 21th century, more than 81% of all jobs in the United States will be jobs that serve with knowledge. The development and expansion of knowledge-based service industry inevitably requires free trade of its products in the world and requires countries to open their markets.

In addition, the "softening" trend of the service trade structure will also be clearly reflected in the traditional service trade. For example, the catering industry is a typical labor-intensive traditional service industry. In the era of knowledge economy, catering enterprises must develop high value-added catering products if they want to reproduce their past glory. This high value-added is reflected not only in the knowledge content of the catering products themselves, but also in the additional services that customers get while enjoying the catering products. Recently, Burger King, an American fast food operator, connected a branch in the central financial district of new york to the Internet by a special line to provide Internet service for customers who came to eat hamburgers, and attracted more and more guests by using the charm of the Internet.

3. comparative advantage of information in service trade competition

in the knowledge-based economy society, knowledge, as the most important factor of production, is mainly produced and transmitted through the information industry. Information flows between countries and regions participating in international economic and trade activities through the global network, which will inevitably lead to the development trend of international trade, especially international service trade informatization. Under this trend, the content, mode and competition pattern of international service trade will inevitably change fundamentally. The traditional comparative advantage of developing countries in service trade will gradually weaken, and the new comparative advantage of information will be a new force to form the division of labor in international service trade in the era of knowledge economy, and become a component of the international competitiveness of trading countries or enterprises. The so-called comparative advantage of information refers to the differences between countries in the ability of information production, dissemination, feedback and use, as well as the quantity, quality, timeliness and scarcity of information obtained by a country. It is precisely because the developed degree of information infrastructure and the scale proportion of information industry will greatly affect a country's competitive strength and position in international trade and even the world economy that countries have increased their investment and competition in information infrastructure construction and information service industry in order not to fall behind in the competition in the era of knowledge economy. Since 1993, US President Bill Clinton put forward the construction of National Information Infrastructure (NII), namely "Information expressway", which has aroused strong repercussions all over the world. At present, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan Province are all planning to implement the "Information expressway Plan", and the EU is not far behind. As the founder of the idea of "Information expressway", the United States spared no effort to speed up its implementation. In order to make the best use of its own scientific and technological and economic advantages in building information infrastructure, the US government announced the implementation of the "Global Information Infrastructure" plan in 1995, calling on all countries to join this plan. At the same time, countries, especially western developed countries, have set off a fierce battle for world information service trade.

4. Further liberalization of service trade policy

Since the 1981s, due to the rapid development of service trade and the strengthening of its diversification and internationalization trend, and the increasing importance of service trade to the economies of all countries in the world, the competition in the international service market has been intensified. Developed countries actively advocate the liberalization of international service trade because they have obvious advantages in the overall benefit distribution of international service trade, while developing countries are cautious because they benefit relatively little. However, the formal signing of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) on April 5th, 1994 indicates that service trade has been formally incorporated into the framework of international multilateral trading system and has become an exchangeable object of services that cannot be carried out in contemporary world economic globalization. For example, in the United States, which is at the forefront of knowledge economy, there are more and more so-called "the sun never sets" software companies, which move their main entities to countries that have no business relations with them and recruit employees on the spot, while their decision makers, senior managers and senior technical developers conduct software development 24 hours a day through network command in the United States, and then send their software products directly to another country through electronic means; Second, the increasing reward of knowledge-based service industry has enhanced the investment and competition of various countries in this field. A study by McKinsey & Company, a well-known international consulting firm, holds that by the beginning of the 21th century, more than 81% of all jobs in the United States will be jobs that serve with knowledge. The development and expansion of knowledge-based service industry inevitably requires free trade of its products in the world and requires countries to open their markets. In addition, the "softening" trend of service trade structure will also be clearly reflected in the traditional service trade. For example, the catering industry is a typical labor-intensive traditional service industry. In the era of knowledge economy, catering enterprises must develop high value-added catering products if they want to reproduce their past glory. This high value-added is reflected not only in the knowledge content of the catering products themselves, but also in the additional services that customers get while enjoying the catering products. Recently, Burger King, an American fast food operator, connected a branch in the central financial district of new york to the Internet by a special line to provide Internet service for customers who came to eat hamburgers, and attracted more and more guests by using the charm of the Internet.

3. Information comparative advantage of service trade competition In the knowledge economy society, knowledge, as the most important factor of production, is mainly produced and transmitted through the information industry. Information flows between countries and regions participating in international economic and trade activities through the global network, which will inevitably lead to the development trend of international trade, especially international service trade informatization. Under this trend, the content, mode and competition pattern of international service trade will inevitably change fundamentally. The traditional comparative advantage of developing countries in service trade will gradually weaken, and the new comparative advantage of information will be a new force to form the division of labor in international service trade in the era of knowledge economy, and become a component of the international competitiveness of trading countries or enterprises. The so-called comparative advantage of information refers to the differences between countries in the ability of information production, dissemination, feedback and use, as well as the quantity, quality, timeliness and scarcity of information obtained by a country. It is precisely because the developed degree of information infrastructure and the scale proportion of information industry will greatly affect a country's competitive strength and position in international trade and even the world economy that countries have increased their investment and competition in information infrastructure construction and information service industry in order not to fall behind in the competition in the era of knowledge economy. Since 1993, US President Bill Clinton put forward the construction of National Information Infrastructure (NII), namely "Information expressway", which has aroused strong repercussions all over the world. At present, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan Province are all planning to implement the "Information expressway Plan", and the EU is not far behind. As the founder of the idea of "Information expressway", the United States spared no effort to speed up its implementation. In order to make the best use of its own scientific and technological and economic advantages in building information infrastructure, the US government announced the implementation of the "Global Information Infrastructure" plan in 1995, calling on all countries to join this plan. At the same time, countries, especially western developed countries, have set off a fierce battle for world information service trade.

4. Further liberalization of service trade policy. Since 1981s, due to the rapid development of service trade, the trend of diversification and internationalization, and the increasing importance of service trade to the economies of all countries in the world, the competition in the international service market has been intensified. Developed countries actively advocate the liberalization of international service trade because they have obvious advantages in the overall benefit distribution of international service trade, while developing countries are cautious because they benefit relatively little. However, the formal signing of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) on April 5th, 1994 indicates that service trade has been formally incorporated into the framework of international multilateral trading system, and has become an important part of contemporary world economic globalization and regional integration. In particular, after February 1997, the Basic Telecommunication Agreement, the Information Technology Agreement and the Financial Services Agreement were finally reached, which brought more than 91% of the world's telecommunications, information and financial services trade under its jurisdiction, and were considered as important documents with milestone significance in the multilateral trading system. At present, most members of WTO have made commitments to some service trade to varying degrees, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has also called for the liberalization of trade and investment in the 21th century. The fact that knowledge-based service industry is listed as one of the two main topics in the Millennium Round of WTO negotiations shows that the opening of the service market has become the development trend of international trade in the future. It can be predicted that with the development of knowledge-based economy, the relationship between free trade policy and protective trade policy will be newly integrated in the service trade policy. On the one hand, the emergence of knowledge economy will greatly enhance the interconnection and interdependence of the economies of all countries in the world. No matter from any angle, as the leading industry in the era of knowledge economy, free trade policy will be the development direction of service industry. With the globalization of economy, simple self-protection and isolation are no longer allowed. Only by participating in the division of service trade with freer trade policies can we achieve safer self-protection. Of course, on the other hand, the knowledge economy should be healthy and stable.