One day earlier， the State Council released overall plans for Guangdong， Tianjin and Fujian free trade pilot zones， a plan for further developing Shanghai free trade zone， a negative list of free trade zone， and a trail method for a safety review on foreign investment country. On the same day， the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference， related officials from Commerce Ministry， Shanghai， Fujian， Tianjin and Guangdong all attended and discussed overall plans for free trade zones.
More Innovation
Compared with Shanghai free trade zone， overall plans for the four free trade zones include a number of institution and mechanism innovation measures. Assistant commerce minister Wang Shouwen said， “The new trade zones copied successful experiences that Shanghai trade zone has gained， made innovations in four fields such as investment administration system， trade regulations， financial system and during/after regulations，and further put forwarded new measures such as administrative consulting system， separation of approval and management， and centralized approval.
For example， the overall plan for Tianjin free trade zone described “Tianjin leads the innovation of leasing industry policy， forms a developing environment of leasing industry with international standards， and speeds up the establishment of a demonstration area for leasing innovation in China.”
Shanghai free trade zone also added new contents this time. “On the basis of last one and a half years， we added new pilot contents； for example， foresee crisis， rights protection， information disclosure， technical innovation and talent service system.” director of the administrative committee of Shanghai free trade zone and Pudong new area party committee secretary Shen Xiaoming said.
Further Opening
Meanwhile， the four free trade zones will be further opened. According to Wang Shouwen， the four free trade zones will take a unified and more convenient register system of foreign investors’ establishment and alteration which matched with negative list management pattern.
Each Free Trade Zone has Its Own Focus
Although openness and target are similar， the four free trade zones each has its own focus： Guangdong free trade zone focuses on promoting closer economic cooperation between inland China and Hong Kong & Macao； Tianjin free trade zone focuses on a coordinated development of Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei； Fujian free trade zone focuses on deepening the crossstrait economic cooperation； Shanghai free trade zone continue to take lead in trade and investment facilitation， currency convertibility， efficient regulation and rule of laws.
“Under CEPA （Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement）， Guangdong， Hong Kong and Macao basically realized free trade of the service this year， had 160 service trade departments. And this year Guangdong free trade zone opened 153 to Hong Kong and Macao， which is its own merit.” Wang Shouwen said.
Yan Qingmin， deputy mayor of Tianjin said， Tianjin free trade zone focusing on Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei includes enhance radiation function of port service； encourage Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei realize industry transformation and upgrading through cross-regional merging and reorganization； speed up exploration on how to synergize financial supervisions in Beijing， Tianjin and Hebei.
“Deepen cross-straits economic cooperation is a main feature of Fujian free trade zone plan.” Zhen Zhajie， vice governor of Fujian province said， concrete measures includes exploring a new pattern of industry cooperation between Fujian and Taiwan， further open service trade to Taiwan， promote Fujian and Taiwan trade liberalization of goods， promote cross-strait financial cooperation trial， and make cross-strait exchanges more convenient.
The four free trade zones also have their own features and focus in financial reform and innovation. Cheng Jun， general manager of trade finance department of the Bank of China’s head office said， Shanghai free trade zone’s capital exploration project can help build international financial center； Guangdong free trade zone develops GuangdongHong Kong-Macao cross border capital channel to support liberation of service trade； Tianjin free trade zone upgrades manufacturing industry through developing financial lease industry； Fujian free trade zone focuses on promote cross-strait financial industry trial. According to the overall plans， the new free trade zone pattern includes more pilot contents， and will open a new way to the reform and opening up. But its implementation involves multiple departments related to management system， industrial & commercial registration and custom clearance. It requires for learning more from Shanghai free trade zone’s experiences， implementing these measures as quickly as possible， and promoting them in a larger scale， in this way， a higher level of openness and a new economic growth point will be formed in China， which can ensure a steady economic growth in China.
Will China have more free trade zones？
In recent two years， more regions in China are applying for free trade zones. In terms of this， Wang Shouwen said， the four free trade zones will be fully assessed after being operated for a period of time， the major work now is to prove that the free trade zone can be copied and be promoted as an innovation nationwide instead of building more and more free trade zones.
“Nowadays， free trade zones are no longer a ‘bottomland’ for policy. In free trade zones， there is no policy about tax preference.” Wang Shouwen said. Unlike special economic zones， besides emphasizing on opening up and system innovation， free trade zones particularly stressing on during/after regulations， as well as risk prevention & control system.
According to the State Council’s overall plan， the four free trade zones are all required for leading the reform and opening up， and building a new highland for China’s reform and opening up.
Reform initiatives of free trade zones not only build a new highland for reform and opening up， but also have a great influence on ordinary people’s living and immediate interests.
Haitao tribe （people who buy overseas things online） in free trade zones can directly buy things at overseas Haitao websites， enjoy the same price， and can even pay by Ren Min Bi. The goods will be shipped from free trade zones directly. It can not only save buyers’ time， but also save buyers’ money since the imported goods in free trade zones are 10%-30% cheaper than those in other place of China. The price of imported goods in free trade zones is really very low.
Since free trade zones are committed to build an international， legalized and market-oriented business environment， it will definitely has a high demand for high-level talents. In addition， since market access is lowered， foreign-funded enterprises in free trade zones increased， which creates more and more opportunities for working in foreign ventures.
It is estimated that the same imported car in free trade zones is 15%-30% cheaper than that sold in traditional 4S store. Meanwhile， because of introducing competition to this industry， after-sales service of the previously called ‘informal imported car’ is more standard.
What’s more， in free trade zones， inspanidual can trade Hong Kong and US equities through opening free trade account. Since offshore banking unit entered free trade zones to compete with local banks， ordinary people in China can have more financing choices.
Mass innovation has become a trend in China. Starting a business will be easier in free trade zones， and will enjoy more preferential policies， which are mainly reflected in simplified process， preferential policy of import tax and innovation advantages of a number of financial policies.
Since free trade zones lowered the threshold for foreign capital entrance， foreign-invested hospitals can enter into free trade zones. Ordinary people can enjoy the same service in free trade zones without going overseas.