Dare to try, dare to break through, and change independently! Ten-year exploration of free trade zone leads to a new pattern of opening up

　　In September 2013, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone was formally established and set sail. In September 2023, the construction of China’s Pilot Free Trade Zone ushered in its 10th anniversary. Starting from Shanghai’s 28.78 square kilometers, it has been continuously expanded to about 38,000 square kilometers. In the past ten years, after six expansions, there have been 21 free trade zones and Hainan Free Trade Ports across the country, forming an innovative pattern of reform and opening up covering the east, west, north and south, and coordinating the coastal, inland and border areas, which has effectively explored and accumulated valuable experience for comprehensively deepening reform and opening up.

　　Ten years of hard work has yielded fruitful results, and it has accumulated a lot of brilliance. In the past ten years, the Pilot Free Trade Zone has launched a large number of basic and pioneering reform and opening-up measures in line with international common rules, formed many landmark and leading institutional innovations, cultivated a number of internationally competitive industrial clusters, stood at the forefront of China’s high-level opening-up, actively served major regional strategies, coordinated regional development strategies and jointly built the "Belt and Road", and achieved remarkable results.

　　In the past ten years, a total of 302 institutional innovations have gone from the China Pilot Free Trade Zone to the whole country, and more than 2,800 have been promoted and copied by various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, giving full play to the demonstration, leading and driving role of the Pilot Free Trade Zone, forming a good situation of sharing reform dividends and opening up the fruits to all. In 2022, the actual use of foreign capital in 21 pilot free trade zones was 222.52 billion yuan, accounting for 18.1% of the country. Among them, the actual use of foreign capital in high-tech industries was 86.34 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 53.2%. The total import and export volume of 21 pilot free trade zones reached 7.5 trillion yuan, up 14.5% year-on-year, accounting for 17.8% of the country; In the first half of this year, 21 pilot free trade zones accounted for 18.4% of the country’s foreign investment with a land area of less than four thousandths, and the actually used foreign capital reached 129.66 billion yuan, an increase of 8.2% year-on-year.

　　Since its establishment, China Pilot Free Trade Zone has been guided by high-level opening, and has made great efforts to explore an institutional system linked with international economic and trade rules. It has also made important breakthroughs in trade, investment, finance, and transformation of government functions, including taking the lead in implementing the national treatment plus negative list management model before foreign investment access, taking the lead in establishing a trade facilitation model centered on the "single window" of international trade, taking the lead in promoting the comprehensive opening of the service industry represented by the negative list management model of cross-border service trade, and taking the lead in implementing the "license separation". … In the past ten years, a number of firsts have been practiced and explored in the Pilot Free Trade Zone and copied to the whole country, creating a vivid model of China’s opening up and development, becoming the "vanguard" leading the country’s deepening reform in the new era, injecting stabilizers and providing new impetus for China’s economic stability and prosperity.

　　Bold trials, bold ventures and independent reforms, the fruitful results achieved in the Pilot Free Trade Zone in the past ten years come from innovation and opening up. Through a series of pioneering practices, the Pilot Free Trade Zone has continuously promoted the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment and continued to lead the opening up. Since 2013, the negative list of foreign investment access in the Pilot Free Trade Zone has been reduced seven times, from 190 to 27 today, realizing the clearing of manufacturing items and the continuous expansion of service industry opening. Hainan Free Trade Port launched the first negative list of cross-border service trade, which realized the fundamental change of service trade management mode.

　　In addition, 21 pilot free trade zones across the country actively strengthened collaborative innovation, explored and promoted coordinated development, amplified the comprehensive effect of reform, and achieved positive results. For example, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Pilot Free Trade Zone established the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei joint conference system, launched 153 items of "colleagues with the same standard" in government services, and implemented regional general office to serve the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui Pilot Free Trade Zones have established the Yangtze River Delta Pilot Free Trade Zone Alliance to create a mechanism for seeking common development, promoting innovation and sharing results, and achieved institutional innovation results in building a "single window" for international trade in the Yangtze River Delta and building an integrated oil and gas trading market. The Yellow River Basin Pilot Free Trade Zone Alliance will be established along the nine provinces of the Yellow River, and four cooperation mechanisms will be established, including "integrated construction" of social credit system, "integrated management of administrative examination and approval services", "integrated cooperation" of intellectual property protection and "integrated and smooth logistics and transportation services". Guangxi Pilot Free Trade Zone actively builds the most convenient seaport in the western region, effectively strengthens the connection with the backbone channels in southwest, northwest and central south, and serves the western development. Yunnan, Guangxi, Heilongjiang and other pilot free trade zones along the border plan to jointly promote the development and opening up along the border. The joint development of these pilot free trade zones has expanded the breadth and depth of institutional innovation, enriched the application scenarios of free trade policies, and expanded the dividend effect of free trade.It is of great significance for improving the efficiency of reform and innovation, serving to build a new development pattern, and effectively supporting the high-quality development of the free trade pilot zone.

　　Standing at a new starting point in ten years, the Pilot Free Trade Zone has ushered in new tasks. At the end of June this year, the State Council issued a document, taking the lead in conducting pilot projects in five qualified free trade pilot zones and Hainan Free Trade Port, such as Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian and Beijing, connecting with international high-standard economic and trade rules, promoting institutional opening, and exploring ways for comprehensively deepening reform and opening up. The Ministry of Commerce will also work with relevant localities and departments to formulate a list of key tasks in the Pilot Free Trade Zone, clarify 164 key tasks to be independently promoted by the relevant pilot free trade zones in the next three years, further strengthen classified guidance, and promote the deepening of reform, practice and innovation in each pilot free trade zone according to local conditions.

　　Sharpen a sword for ten years and stride forward again. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the construction of China Pilot Free Trade Zone, and it is also the first year to implement the "strategy of upgrading the Pilot Free Trade Zone". On the new journey, on the basis of comprehensively summing up ten years’ construction experience, we should thoroughly implement the promotion strategy of the Pilot Free Trade Zone, carry out exploration in a wider field and at a deeper level, and strive to build a higher level pilot free trade zone. For example, we should speed up the pilot work of comprehensively docking international high-standard economic and trade rules, and further promote the institutional opening of rules, regulations, management and standards; Promote a reasonable reduction of the negative list of foreign investment in the Pilot Free Trade Zone, promote the introduction of a negative list of cross-border service trade, and lead the country to continue to expand and open up; Strengthen the overall planning and system integration of reform, thoroughly implement the upgrading strategy of the Pilot Free Trade Zone, and focus on launching a number of leading and integrated reform measures in key areas; Support their respective trade pilot zones to further deepen differentiated exploration and promote the innovative development of the whole industrial chain around key areas … … Let the seeds of institutional innovation in the Pilot Free Trade Zone take root and bear fruit nationwide, promote economic growth to rely more on innovation, and lead China’s high-quality economic development! (Yang Guangwang commentator Yu Qi)