China and the United States make plans for face-to-face negotiations over trade issues in January. This comes as The Chinese Ministry of Commerce releases the latest trade numbers. CGTN's Zou Yun reports.

Common new year's resolutions from east to west. China and the US pledge to meet in January to try and resolve their ongoing trade differences. This come as China's service trade surged over 11 percent year on year in the first eleven months of 2018. The total value of exports and imports in the service sector stood at about 4.74 trillion yuan, around 689 billion U.S. dollars. A Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman said at a regular press briefing on Thursday that growth in service trade is shifting towards higher-quality development, and growth relevant with Intellectual Property services has become a new trend.

GAO FENG, SPOKESPERSON CHINESE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "The service trade, as it pertains to intellectual property, is growing fast. That means China's demand for high-end productive services is surging, and the country's innovation capability is on the rise as well."

Meanwhile, according to some reports, a U.S. trade team will travel to Beijing the week of January 7th to hold talks with Chinese officials. When asked if the meetings will happen, Gao says despite the US still being on Christmas holiday, the communication between China and US on trade issues is progressing in a timely manner as scheduled. And the 2 sides have made arrangements about meeting in person next month.

GAO FENG, SPOKESPERSON CHINESE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE "The trade teams of both China and the US have been in close contact. In January next year, besides frequent discussions over the phone, both sides have made arrangements in conducting face-to-face discussions."

ZOU YUN BEIJING "If the potential meeting happens, it will be the first face-to-face negotiation between the 2 sides since Chinese president Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump met in Argentina at G20 summit. And the goal is here: to reach some consensus on how to solve the issue, and create a favorable environment for global trade. ZY, CGTN, BJ."