Illustration: Liu Xiangya

What is the future of global trade? This year's World Trade Organization (WTO) Public Forum, running from Tuesday to Thursday, offers a useful clue. Entitled "Powering the Future," the forum puts trade in services at the center of the discussion. As artificial intelligence (AI) advances, services are becoming easier to trade across borders. The next phase of global trade may therefore involve not only more goods moving around the world, but also more services, knowledge and expertise.

China offers a good view of where this is heading. It is already the world's second-largest trader in services and one of the world's largest markets for imported services. In the first seven months of this year, China's services trade reached 4.45 trillion yuan ($662.9 billion), up 8.3 percent from a year earlier. Imports accounted for more than half of the total, at 2.67 trillion yuan. With technology advancing at an ever-faster pace and making more services tradable across borders, a market of this scale could become an important part of a much bigger story: the next expansion of global services trade.

Take healthcare as an example. As AI develops, internet technologies could become more deeply integrated into areas such as health management and medical consultation, changing how some services are provided. For foreign medical institutions operating in China in line with existing laws, policies and requirements, there is much to explore in how these technologies could reshape service delivery.

China's potential as a services market is partly driven by rising incomes. As households become more affluent, demand for healthcare, education, entertainment and professional services is likely to grow. This remains an important source of demand. But in the age of AI, it is no longer the only one.

Technology is becoming another source of growth. China has not only developed new technologies rapidly, but has also seen them penetrate deeply into industry and everyday life. As of the end of April, the country had 5.009 million 5G base stations. Behind a number like that is a vast digital infrastructure serving an economy with a huge population and industrial base.

As AI develops, that huge population and industrial base could support new and larger markets for services. As technology makes more services tradable, services that were once difficult or costly to provide at scale can reach more people and businesses. That means more room for services trade - and a future in which technological progress does not just make trade easier, but expands what can be traded.

At the same time, China has been steadily opening its services sector to foreign investment, with greater market access in a range of areas in recent years. This matters as technology expands the range of services that can be traded. A larger and more digital services market can create new demand, while greater openness gives foreign companies more opportunities to serve it.

The opportunity is there. Global trade may be entering a new phase, as technology creates new markets for trade that barely existed before. Yet the thinking around trade has not always kept pace. In some economies, trade policy remains focused on using protectionism to shield existing markets, while geopolitical thinking is increasingly being applied to technology, with tighter restrictions on technology trade and digital services. These approaches risk further fragmenting global trade. That would be a poor outcome for everyone.

If technology is opening up new opportunities for global trade, the answer should be openness, not further fragmentation. The WTO's decision to put trade in services at the center of this year's public forum points in the right direction. This is precisely where the WTO can play a larger role.

China already offers a large and growing market for services trade, including for foreign providers. That is one practical contribution to the next phase of global trade. As technology rapidly expands the boundaries of trade and creates new opportunities, if some economies are still using protectionism to shield old markets, it may be worth taking another look at the costs and benefits - and at the opportunities that lie ahead in services trade.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn