The Tenth Anniversary of Free Trade Pilot Zones in China:Fundamental Experiences and Enhancement Strategies

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,the country has established 21 Free Trade Pilot Zones(FTZs),achieving significant pioneering results in reform and opening up and creating a strong demonstrative effect nationwide.The basic experience from a decade of FTZs includes:adhering to the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee;combining top-level design with encouragement of grassroots innovation;leveraging the distinct characteristics and strengths of FTZs to form a differentiated development pattern;maintaining the integration of opening up with domestic reforms;using openness to drive reforms;and organically combining openness with national security assurance.Under the current and future new circumstances,China’s FTZs face new challenges and tasks.In accordance with the directives of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,an enhancement strategy for the FTZs needs to be implemented.This involves the following:First,accurately understanding and responding to the changing situation to create strategic opportunities.Second,shifting paradigms to implement innovation-driven strategies,using the new development pattern concept to guide the reform experiments and construction of the FTZs.Third,granting more autonomy to FTZs for reforms,pursuing progress while maintaining stability,and solidly advancing the reform experiments in the FTZs.Fourth,orderly expanding the opening up of the service sector and cautiously advancing the internationalization of the renminbi.Fifth,promoting innovative development in trade to build a strong trade nation.Sixth,establishing synergy with bilateral FTZs,Belt and Road cooperation,and national diplomatic strategies to enhance the linkage effect.

Does the Establishment of Pilot Free Trade Zones Improve the Efficiency of Financial Services for the Real Economy?Empirical Evidence from Four Pilot Free Trade Zones in Shanghai,Tianjin,Guangdong,and Fujian

In the process of the high-quality transformation and development of China's economy,one of the issues that needs to be resolved is how to strengthen the ability of finance to serve the real economy and improve the efficiency of financial operations.Pilot Free Trade Zones(PFTZs),highlands of institutional innovation,have played the role of a natural testing ground for China to deepen its financial supply-side reform and improve the efficiency of financial services in the real economy.On that premise,this paper discusses the policy effects and transmission channels for the financial reform of PFTZs to improve the efficiency of financial services in the real economy within China.The findings of the papar are the followings,(1)The reform of PFTZsshas significantly improved the efficiency offinance in the real economy,having even achieved a sustainable effect.That is to say,with the extension of gment This work wasthe duration of free trade zone constructionand the gradual implementation of financialreform measures,the regional impactof financial services in the real economyhas shown a year-on-year upward trend.(2)The effects of financial agglomeration,financial transparency,and optimizationof financial infrastructure produced by thereform of PFTZs have played a significantregulatory role in the process of improvingthe efficiency of financial services in thefree trade zones.(3)The effect of China'sfinancial reform on PFTZs has fosterednoticeable regional diversity;an importantreason for the diversity of policy effectrests with the difference in transmissionmechanisms.The conclusions of this paper expand the research dimension of theliterature evaluating the effect of policy onPFTZs,and provide policy references fromthe perspective of financial reform in thefree trade zones for China to further deepenfinancial supply-side reform and improvethe efficiency of financial services in the realeconomy.

Development of Pilot Free Trade Zones and Regional Economic Growth in China:Comparison on the Conducting Paths and Dynamic Mechanisms

This study discusses the effect and the dynamic mechanism of free trade zone(FTZ)development promoting regional economic growth in China from the perspective of institutional innovation,and finds as follows.(1)The identification process based on difference-in-differences(DID)testing and Bayesian information criterion(BIC)indicates that the institutional innovation of FTZs not only drives regional economic growth,but acts as one of the core factors among the many drivers.(2)The rapid development of investment and trade,as the primal core function of FTZs,is an important dynamic factor for FTZs to promote regional economic growth.It means in the macro-context of lasting and repeated China-U.S.trade frictions,FTZ development should refer to the practice of China(Shanghai)Pilot Free Trade Zone and China(Zhejiang)Pilot Free Trade Zone in aligning to high-standard investment and trade criteria,return to the origin of free trade,and actively seek policy support in improving trade openness and investment facilitation.(3)With the synthetic control method used,the study finds a wide gap in the“experimental effect”of setting up FTZs in different areas.The effect is better in coastal FTZs than in inland ones,and FTZs established later usually have less noticeable effect.On this account,FTZs in China should be positioned differently based on their characteristics of location and endowment;featured development modes should be explored to reduce homogeneous competition;development of coastal and inland FTZs should be balanced and coordinated.

Review of Managing the Risks of Offshore Banking and Its Implications for the China(Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone

As more and more Chinese and foreign-funded banks settle in the China(Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone(CSPFTZ), it has become an imperative to enhance risk management of offshore banking. At the international level, the regulatory effort for offshore banking mainly focuses on tax evasion and money laundering.Existing regulatory frameworks have established standards to identify countries providing facilities for money laundering and developed punitive measures. In terms of strategy, it is suggested that, firstly, relevant regulatory measures should be improved in the short term, and it is necessary to define the scope of offshore banking and regulatory measures for Chinese banks and foreign-funded banks under a suitable legal framework. Secondly,it is necessary to establish risk exposure mechanism and risk evaluation system for the offshore banking in the CSPFTZ, while risk management measures are implemented based on on-site supervision. Thirdly, in the medium and long term, it is necessary to enhance management of potential risks which can be created by offshore banking due to deregulation. Fourthly, on the one hand, specific regulations should be formulated to provide a regulatory basis for taxation; on the other hand, tax informational exchange agreements(TIEAs) may be used as a reference for achieving effective tax regulation.

The Impact of the Pilot Free Trade Zone on Regional Financial Development

This paper focuses on the Shanghai pilot free trade zone(FTZ).It investigates the effect of the FTZ policy on regional financial development.The synthetic control method employs quarterly data from 2005 to 2019 at the provincial level to investigate counterfactual states before and after the pilot FTZ was set up.First,our results reveal that the Shanghai pilotFTZ had a positive influence on the following four variables proxied for regional financial development:(i)the scale of regional financial development;(i)the efficiency of indirect financial development;(ii)the efficiency of direct financial development;(iv)the structure of financial development.Second,our results found that the policy effects that began to emerge from 2014 onwards exhibited a steadily increasing trend.As a result,the four proxy variables have increased by(i)197 percent,(i)202 percent,(ii)9.4 percent,and(iv)15.2 percent,respectively.That is,the scale of regional financial development and the efficiency of indirect financial development have increased more than theother proxy variables.

Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone and the National Strategy of Opening-up to Boost Reform

China＇s Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone （hereinafter referred to as ＂SHFTZ＂） has been running for more than one year so far. The establishment of the SHFTZ is an important Chinese strategy in a key stage when the global and Chinese economies are both undergoing significant transitions, which will have a far-reaching impact on China＇s transformation and development in the long term. Based on his own experience accumulated from participating in the preparation of the overall plan for the SHFTZ and his observations since its official operation officially began, the author conducts review of issues such as expected goals, selection of implementation methods and determination of evaluation criteria with respect to the establishment of the SHFTZ. In his view, the SHFTZ is a key element in China＇s national strategy of using opening-up to force further reforms.

Chongqing Pilot Free Trade Zone:A New Channel for Trade with Europe

The Ministry of Commerce announced in August last year that a pilot free trade zone was envisioned for Chongqing and six other provinciallevel areas.This means that Chongqing will benefit from favorable policies in trade and investment in the near future,and goods can be imported and exported without tariffs.In September,Secretary of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee