The scale of China's foreign trade import and export reached a record high of US $6 trillion, and the actual use of foreign capital kept growing. As the highest level of China's opening up platform, the Free Trade Zone has played a crucial role in stimulating foreign trade. According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce, the import and export volume of China's 21 free trade zones in the first half of 2021 accounted for 16.6% of the country's total, with a year-on-year growth of 42%. The actual utilization of foreign capital accounted for 17% of the country's total, with a year-on-year growth of 33.5%. It can be seen that the Free Trade Zone has become a new highland for China's opening-up and a new platform for high-quality development.
All directional and gradient spatial pattern
Since the establishment of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone in 2013, China's free trade zones have experienced six rounds of expansion, from scratch, from small to large, covering 21 provinces (cities) and autonomous regions, forming 67 free trade zones. According to the geographical location, China's free trade zones are divided into three types, forming a spatial opening pattern of east, west, north, south, north, coastal areas, inland connections, and multiple levels.
Coastal Free Trade Zone:
Including 10 free trade zones (ports) in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and other provinces, all coastal provinces and regions have set up free trade zones to achieve full coverage of China's coastal provinces' free trade zones, form the forefront of opening up, give full play to the radiation and driving role of coastal areas in hinterland, and better serve the overall pattern of opening up, which is the linkage between land and sea, and two-way mutual aid between east and west.
Inland Free Trade Zone:
Including eight free trade zones in Hubei, Henan, Chongqing, Sichuan and Shaanxi, the inland free trade zone is an important node of China's economic internal cycle, focusing on building high-end manufacturing and emerging industrial clusters, promoting the development of an open economy, and building an inland open highland.
Yanbian Free Trade Zone:
Including Heilongjiang, Yunnan, Guangxi and other three free trade zones, the construction of border free trade zones is conducive to promoting border opening through reform and innovation, identifying complementary advantages with surrounding countries and regions, exploring cross-border trade, cross-border logistics and two-way investment, and serving the construction of "the Belt and Road".
The strategic positioning of the Free Trade Zone has its own characteristics
By analyzing the overall plan of 21 free trade zones, it is not difficult to find that each free trade zone has formed a distinct and clear strategic positioning based on its own regional advantages, industrial advantages and endowment characteristics. For example, Shanghai Free Trade Zone aims to further explore China's financial openness and innovation; Guangdong Free Trade Zone highlights the goal of in-depth cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao; Fujian Free Trade Zone highlights the characteristics of cooperation with Taiwan; Shaanxi Free Trade Zone responds to the national "the Belt and Road" development strategy; Liaoning Free Trade Zone provides experience and exploration for the transformation of northeast industrial base; Guangxi Free Trade Zone focuses on benchmarking ASEAN to build a new channel for international land and sea trade; Zhejiang Free Trade Zone acts as a pioneer in the innovation of marine trade system. Each of the 21 free trade zones has its own focus, carries out differentiated exploration, stimulates the independence of each free trade zone and even all regions in opening up and innovation, and creates development space for expanding opening up to the depth.
The development of the Free Trade Zone moves towards "deep water area"
After eight years of in-depth exploration, the construction of China's free trade zone has entered the comprehensive promotion stage from the initial pilot stage. On the whole, the development of the free trade zone presents four characteristics.
First, take system innovation as the core.
The biggest difference between the free trade zone and the traditional industrial park is that the free trade zone is not only a policy highland for opening up, but also a pressure testing area for institutional innovation. At present, China's free trade zones have carried out six batches of replication and promotion of reform pilot experience around trade and investment facilitation, financial system innovation, legal environment construction and other aspects, and have replicated and promoted 278 system innovation achievements to the country or specific regions. Among them, there are not only the negative list of foreign investment access, the "single window" of international trade and other basic and leading institutional changes, but also the "customs clearance integration" and other regulatory model innovations, as well as the "four ones" of investment management system reform and other whole process system optimization. The Free Trade Zone has given full play to the role of the "experimental field" of reform and opening up, which can be learned and used for reference in the process of deepening reform and expanding opening up.
Second, we should focus on expanding opening up.
In 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission released the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access in the Free Trade Zone (Negative List), and the negative list of the free trade zone has been reduced for the seventh time from the original 190 items to 27 items. The open fields involve the first, second and third industries, especially in the manufacturing industry, and the access restrictions in market research, Internet, medical and other service industries have been further relaxed, It demonstrates China's determination and confidence to expand its opening up.
Third, highlight local industrial characteristics.
Free trade zones in various regions have expanded from common institutional innovation to focusing on local characteristics, highlighting industrial innovation, carrying out integrated innovation of the whole industrial chain, attracting industrial chain and global production factor resources, and building more world leading industrial clusters. For example, focusing on the development of marine economy, Shandong Free Trade Zone accelerates the promotion of marine scientific and technological innovation, cultivates the aquatic product processing and trade center in Northeast Asia, promotes the construction of national marine drug pilot test base, and improves the level of international marine cooperation; Jiangsu Free Trade Zone promotes the integration of science and technology and industry, and promotes the innovative development of integrated circuit, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and other industries.
Fourth, serve and integrate into the major national strategies.
Actively serving national strategies such as the construction of the "the Belt and Road", the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, the development of the Yangtze River economic belt, the revitalization of the northeast, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, and the marine power, exploring paths and accumulating experience for the construction of a new development pattern are the common goals of the development of free trade zones in all regions. For example, the Beijing Pilot Free Trade Zone has strengthened the technology market financing and cooperation between Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and retained the qualification of high-tech enterprises for the overall migration of high-tech enterprises within the validity period; Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zone carried out the pilot reform of the integration of the inspection of special goods in the Yangtze River Delta.
This year's government work report proposed that "China will make full use of two markets and two resources, continuously expand foreign economic and trade cooperation, and promote deep reform and high-quality development with high-level opening up". As a highland of China's opening up, the Free Trade Zone will be given greater reform autonomy in the future. It will carry out in-depth reform around key areas, key links and basic systems, continue to strengthen its leading opening function, and play a greater role in accelerating the formation of a new development pattern and building a new system of a higher level open economy.
