Free trade zones to take up reforms in key areas
China's pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port are expected to adopt deeper reforms and conduct more systematic trials in key and frontier areas, such as the services industry, according to experts and government officials.
That will facilitate the country's deepening reform and expanding high-standard opening-up, and eventually add impetus to both Chinese and global economic recovery, they said.
Guo Tingting, vice-minister of commerce, said at a recent news conference that China will intensify stress testing in the FTZs and at the Hainan FTP to accumulate experience and explore pathways for reforms in related fields.
Since the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was established in 2013, the country has set up 21 FTZs. Efforts have been made to achieve an islandwide, independent customs clearance operation in the Hainan FTP by the end of 2025, after the construction of the FTP began in 2020.
"The FTZs and the Hainan FTP are facing higher expectations from the central leadership as a test field for reform and opening-up," said Huo Jianguo, vice-chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies.
"The FTZs are likely to accelerate opening-up of industries, including telecommunications, insurance and e-commerce, while the Hainan FTP is expected to make bolder trials on increasing openness in the services industry, including senior care, audits and professional designing," he said.
According to Gu Xueming, president of the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, more institutional innovations that can be replicated nationwide with remarkable results are expected from the FTZs and the Hainan FTP.
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