A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis of China’s Free Trade Zones:Status and Evolutionary Trends

The China free trade zone,crucial for advancing a new open economy,has gained significant attention lately.We analyzed 885 papers from Peking University Core and CSSCI journals(2012-2023)using CiteSpace for visualization.Our research results indicate that the literature on China’s free trade zone peaked with 171 articles in 2015,and gradually returned to an average of 45 articles per year.The main research focuses in this field include“institutional innovation”,“negative list”,“financial innovation”,“financial openness”,“opening up to the outside world”,and“economic growth”.In addition,cutting-edge analysis indicates that“dual circulation”and“blockchain”are future research trends.The main authors of the literature include Yang Bin,Zhu Xiaolin,Yuan Bo,Li Meng,Zhao Liang,and others.Their affiliated institutions,research institutes,and universities have not yet formed a clear core circle of authors;The top three research institutions with the highest number of publications are the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce,Kaiyuan Law School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University,and the Comprehensive Research Institute of the Free Trade Zone of Sun Yatsen University.This article delves into the current hot topics and progress in the research of China’s free trade zones,providing important references and inspirations for future scholars in this field.

TPFTZ(Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone)——A New Pattern of China's Openning to the Outside World

Under the guidance of Deng Xiao-ping’s strategic think-ing of openning to the outside world, the structure of om-nibearing openness has basically taken shape in China. Follow-

China Accelerates Free Trade Zone Establishment

The Opinions on Acceleration of Implementation of Free Trade Zone Strategy,which was issued by the State Council in the end of 2015,clearly proposed the establishment of high standard global FTA(free trade zone)network that is based on surrounding countries regions and covers the'Belt and Road'region.As of now,China has signed 14 FTA agreements with 22 countries and regions,including ASEAN(Association of Southeast

THE SYSTEM OF REGISTERING AT THE CUSTOMS FOR THE RECORD BUILT UP IN FREE TRADE ZONES

With a view to accelerating the construction and development of the free trade zones and the foreign trade business of enterprises within the said zones, and making entering or leaving the zones convenient for those enterprises; the Customs shall in accordance with the newly promulgated regulations as stipulated in Supervising Measures of the Customs in Free Trade Zones require that consigness, consignors or their agents register for the record their car.

Cultivation of Applied Foreign Language Talents in the Context of Hubei Free Trade Zone

This paper explains that the construction and development of Hubei Free Trade Zone has brought opportunities for the employment of applied foreign language talents.It analyzes the problems existing in the training of foreign language majors in Hubei local undergraduate universities:the professional positioning is vague,the curriculum system is unreasonable;the teaching mode is relatively outdated and cannot stimulate students’interest in learning;the teaching skills are limited,and the teachers’practical ability is insufficient;Improper methods,insufficient attention to quality training,etc.In response to the above problems,the article puts forward ideas and countermeasures for training applied foreign language talents.

Free Trade Zones: An Alternative Route to Enter China

China＇s first free trade zone （FTZ） was la unched in Shanghai in 2013 as part of the city＇s plans to transform itself into a global financial center. The Shanghai FTZ was seen as an important breakthrough to promote wider and deeper economic development and financial reforms in China. Since then, three more FTLs have been established in Fujian, Guangdong and Tianjin. Ultimately,

Achievements and Problems of Reform of Investment Management System for Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone

The establishment of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone provides many possibilities for China's economic construction. This paper made a comparative analysis on investment management system of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone and traditional investment management system,discussed achievements and problems of reform of investment management system of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone,and finally came up with pertinent policy recommendations.

Position and Roles of Shipping Culture in the Construction of Shanghai Free Trade Zone

The roles of shipping culture were introduced firstly,and then the development situation of Shanghai Free Trade Zone was analyzed. Finally,the ration between shipping culture and the construction of Shanghai Free Trade Zone was discussed to provide reference for the development of Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

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.

Development Reorientation of China's Free Trade Zones under the New Development Paradigm of Dual Circulation:On the Reform Path of Free Trade Zones for the High-Quality Development of China's Economy

Against the backdrop of China's development reality for the time being and upholding the basic logic of boosting the high-quality development of China's economy,the authors give the historical background,realisticclogic,theoretical connotation,and strategic significance of the new development paradigm of dual circulation a thorough interpretation.On this basis,the authors conduct a detailed analysis of the development path between China's Free Trade Zones(FTZs)and the new development paradigm of dual circulation,as well as the new orientation of FTZs under this paradigm.Focusing on systems thinking,the new development paradigm of dual circulation not only opens up a new realm of open economic theory with Chinese characteristics but also enriches the socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics.From the perspective of the new development paradigm of dual circulation,China's FTZs serve as a reform test field and a powerful starting point for driving the high-quality circulation ofChina's economy.From another perspective,it is also an open bridgehead and a significant window for China to participate in international economic circulation.In this sense,China's FTZs remain the key hub linking domestic and international circulations.China's FTZs should be given greater reform autonomy.Whilefocusinggon the differentiated exploration and development models,the dividends of the first trial system should be fully utilized to integrate China's FTZs into the national open development strategy.Thus,high-level open practice can be anticipated to boost the virtuous circle of domestic and foreign economies,with concerted efforts and drive China's economy toward a high-quality future.

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.

Do Free Trade Zones Improve Air Quality?

As a new window of opening up to the outside world in the new era,the establishment of Free Trade Zones(FTZs)in China is an important national strategy for promoting high-quality economic development wherein the prevention and control of pollution is an important hurdle to be surmounted throughout the process.Based on data taken from model cities for environmental protection in China from 2008 to 2017,given the effect of policy spillover,this study considers the establishment of FTZs to be a"quasinatural experiment."It uses the general analysis paradigm of spatial difference-indifference(DID)to systematically examine the impact of FTZs on air pollution as well as to conduct an in-depth analysis of their spatial heterogeneity and mechanism of action.The study shows that the establishmentofFTZs significantlyreduces the concentration of air pollutants in cities.If the spatial DID method is adopted to measure the policy spillover effect of the establishment of free trade zones,urban air pollutants declines by 12%to 17%,while the estimated result using the traditional DID method is only 7%.The establishment of FTZs significantly alleviates air pollution in neighboring non-pilot cities as well.Based on the range of the spillover effect from the center of the FTZ,it is found that the average spatial spillover effect presents as an inverted"U"curve as the research radius increases,with an optimal policy spillover effect radius of about 200km,while the policy spillover effect between pilot cities remains poor.The establishment of an FTZ not only improves the local atmospheric environment by promoting industrial structure optimization and green technology innovation in pilot cities but also generates a spillover effect on neighboring non-pilot cities through the same mechanism,thus contributing to improving the atmospheric environment in those non-pilot cities.These findings remain valid following a series of robustness tests such as the spatial parallel trend test and the placebo test.This study offers an answer to the key question of whether free trade zone policy can truly promote high-quality economic development in the new era.It provides useful policy insights for further expanding opening up,winning the battle for the prevention and control of pollution,and promoting the high-quality development of China's economy.

A dynamic panel data approach and HCW's method:Assessing the effect of China(Shanghai)Free Trade Zone on local GDP

We propose a simple-to-implement dynamic panel data method to evaluate the impacts of place-based policies.The idea is to exploit both the cross sectional dependence and the serial correlation within a panel and implement a semi difference-in-difference decomposition.Different from the method by Hsiao et al.(2012),the proposed model is easy to implement statistical inferences and can incorporate multiple treated groups at different time thresholds.We use the proposed method to explore the effect of the Free Trade Zone(FTZ)policy implemented in Shanghai at the end of 2013 on local GDP growth rate and compare it with that from Hsiao et al.(2012).The empirical results show that the FTZ does have a positive effect on the local GDP growth rate and it adds 1:21:8 percent point to the growth rate of the GDP per capita for Shanghai in 2014 which is about one fourth to one third of the total GDP growth rate per capita.This effect largely comes from the growth of the tertiary sector.The results lend support to the duplication of FTZ policy to other cities and provinces in China.

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.