China will extend 77 pilot measures implemented in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) nationwide, Tang Wenhong, Assistant Minister of Commerce, announced following the publication of a government circular. The measures span seven key areas: services trade, goods trade, digital trade, intellectual property protection, government procurement reform, behind-the-border management systems reform, and risk prevention and control. Of the overall package, 34 measures will be extended to other FTZs across the country, including those related to innovation in digital yuan application scenarios, optimized cross-border fund management for multinational corporations, and data-export negative list mechanisms. The remaining 43 measures will be implemented nationwide, covering cross-border electronic payment applications, commercial encryption certification recognition, data security management certification, government data transparency, and digital government procurement platforms.
Tang said that in recent years, the global openness index has been declining, with unilateralism and protectionism intensifying, posing severe challenges to multilateralism and free trade. FTZs serve as the vanguard of reform and opening-up and are trailblazers of innovative development, he noted. Independently conducting experiments in FTZs to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules and replicating these results on a broader scale are crucial measures to steadfastly manage China's own affairs well and expand high-level opening-up. “This reflects China's resolute commitment to upholding the multilateral trading system and practicing free trade principles, while also injecting strong momentum into continuously optimizing the business environment and promoting high-quality economic development,” he said. The measures focus on promoting trade and investment liberalization, further expanding market access, and enabling the world to share the opportunities of China's opening-up. Intellectual property protection, government procurement and state-owned enterprise reform account for nearly half of the total. For example, in the field of government procurement, a package of 15 measures including further increasing transparency of information for limited competition projects and encouraging the publication of procurement announcements in both Chinese and English will further improve the transparency and fairness of China's government procurement procedures while steadily aligning with international standards, Tang noted.
The initiative builds on a November 2023 plan that positioned the Shanghai pilot FTZ as a pioneer in aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, establishing it as a national demonstration zone for institutional opening-up. After more than a year of pilot testing, Shanghai has developed leading and landmark institutional innovations and valuable best practices, the circular said.
Assistant Minister Tang added that in the next step, China will expand pilot programs into broader areas, introducing institutional innovations to support new trade models, data flow facilitation and regulatory breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and fintech to foster high-quality development and cross-border digital trade. Tang said China will continue to advance higher-level investment liberalization and facilitation, intensify stress testing for market access, and promote the orderly opening-up of sectors such as telecommunications, the internet and healthcare for foreign businesses.
Meng Huating, Director of the Free Trade Zone and Free Trade Port Department of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said that to date, a total of 379 innovative measures from China’s FTZs have been replicated and promoted at the national level, creating an enabling environment where reform and opening-up benefits are broadly shared. Meng said that local governments will be guided to implement these reforms in line with local realities, giving priority to those most urgently needed by businesses and the public, with the goal of expanding the reach of institutional innovation and delivering its benefits to a wider range of regions.
Jerrity Chen, Director of North Asia at Louis Dreyfus Company, a Rotterdam-headquartered multinational trader and processor of agricultural commodities, said that China’s growing openness and transparency toward foreign investors, along with expanded market access and equal treatment, are key reasons for multinational corporations to continue to increase their investment in the country.
This overview is based on reports by the Global Times and the China Daily.
