This year's China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) marked a significant milestone for Guangxi as the region made its inaugural appearance as the honored province. Serving as China's frontline hub and vital gateway for open cooperation with ASEAN nations, Guangxi has been strategically leveraging its geographic proximity to Southeast Asian countries to vigorously expand its services trade with the region.

By 2025, the autonomous region's total services trade import and export volume had reached $3.396 billion, reflecting a substantial 22% year-on-year increase. This impressive performance underscores a remarkable trend, as Guangxi's services trade has now sustained rapid growth exceeding 20% for three consecutive years. The momentum continues into the current year, with data from the first half of the year showing the services trade import and export volume reaching $1.66 billion, a robust 26% increase compared to the same period last year.

Innovation lies at the heart of this growth, with local enterprises making significant strides in various sectors. One notable example is a Guangxi-based company specializing in micro-drama production, which has harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to develop a proprietary creative platform. This cutting-edge system integrates the entire production chain, including script generation, visual production, and final output, dramatically reducing the production cycle for a single micro-drama to an astonishing seven to ten days. Furthermore, this technology enables a single production to be output in multiple languages, providing a competitive edge in the global market. Since its inception in 2023, the company has launched over 12,000 micro-dramas worldwide, captivating an overseas audience of more than 50 million users.

Wang Tingting, the Public Affairs Director at a Guangxi media group, highlighted the strategic direction of their projects, stating, "We are currently prioritizing the development of two cultural tourism programs tailored for the ASEAN market. These projects deeply integrate intangible cultural heritage and regional characteristics into their storylines, transforming the concept of 'cultural tourism micro-dramas' into tangible, vibrant stories." This focus underscores a broader industry shift toward content that is not only entertaining but also culturally significant.

Beyond content innovation, Guangxi enterprises are also achieving breakthroughs in digital intelligence applications and deepening their collaborative efforts with Southeast Asian Nations in areas such as the co-construction of digital infrastructure and cross-border digital trade. A flagship initiative in this regard is the China-ASEAN Information Harbor, which hosts the country's first cross-border credit reporting service platform. Rooted in Guangxi, this platform is designed to serve the entire nation and connect with the ASEAN region. It aligns with the requirements of the Belt and Road Initiative's data connectivity and the Digital Silk Road construction, aggregating credit and industrial big data resources from both domestic and international enterprises. Its primary objective is to provide secure and efficient market-oriented cross-border credit services to governments, banks, businesses, and credit reporting agencies, thereby facilitating high-quality economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN.

Gan Qiuling, the Executive President of China-ASEAN Information Harbor Co., Ltd., provided insights into the platform's capabilities, explaining, "Currently, the platform supports inquiries about the credit information of enterprises in more than 200 countries and regions worldwide. Our data covers over 400 million enterprises globally, including more than 7 million businesses within ASEAN. This allows us to offer essential credit information services for scenarios such as cross-border investment and financing, as well as cross-border settlement." As of August 2026, the platform has established cooperative relationships with over 100 financial institutions, with its products having been accessed more than 150 million times. It has served over 10 million small and micro enterprises, contributing to a total financing scale exceeding 510 billion yuan. Looking ahead, the platform is set to gradually promote and implement practices in ASEAN countries related to credit data standards, data applications, and data security technologies.

Li Shuo, the Deputy Director of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Department of Commerce, outlined the region's strategic focus, stating, "We are committed to developing knowledge-intensive services. In the first half of the year, certain sectors have shown particularly strong performance, with import and export growth rates exceeding 35% in areas such as maintenance and repair services, telecommunications and computers, and cross-border information services. Moving forward, we will seize the opportunity of being the honored province to continue strengthening the cohesive power of services trade with ASEAN, contributing to the construction of an even closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future." This strategic approach, combining regional advantages, robust industries, AI empowerment, and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, positions Guangxi for sustained success. The first half of this year already reflects this positive trajectory, with the region's services trade import and export volume reaching $1.66 billion, a 26% increase.