China to expand FTZ pilot programs

China's efforts to replicate pilot measures from the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in more FTZs and other parts of the country will further promote trade liberalization, while providing stronger support for the growth of foreign businesses, said government officials on Friday.

According to a State Council circular released on Thursday, China will replicate 77 pilot measures from the Shanghai FTZ in an effort to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules and advance high-standard institutional opening-up.

The measures span seven key areas: trade in services, goods trade, digital trade, intellectual property protection, government procurement reform, behind-the-border regulatory systems reform, and risk prevention and control.

Speaking at a news conference in Beijing, Tang Wenhong, assistant minister of commerce, said that for 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 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.

Under the policy rollout, 34 measures will expand to other FTZs and 43 will be applied nationwide, covering areas such as optimized cross-border fund management for multinational corporations, cross-border electronic payment applications and digital government procurement platforms.

Meng Huating, director of the free trade zone and free trade port department of the Ministry of Commerce, 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.

Such policy-driven efforts at the local level have reinforced foreign investors' confidence in China's long-term commitment to opening-up.

Jerrity Chen, head 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.

"For example, our regional headquarters for North Asia in Shanghai has benefited greatly from policies in the Shanghai FTZ, including the free trade account system and the cross-border cash pooling mechanism. These initiatives have played a significant role in advancing the operational capabilities of multinational headquarters," said Chen.

With eight manufacturing sites and an innovation center across China, Eastman Chemical Co, a United States-based specialty materials manufacturer, launched two new lines at its plant in the Dalian Area of China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Zone in June, to ramp up the output of its automotive film products.