Lingang embodies China's opening-up policy

The newly unveiled Lingang Special Area embodies China’s overall opening-up policy and will serve the country’s continued economic development, a researcher said on Friday.

The expanded Lingang Special Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is a member of the country’s free trade zone family and it will function as a new testing ground for economic reform and opening-up policies, said Sun Yuanxin, a professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and deputy dean of its Institute for Free Trade Zone Research.

China now has 18 free trade zones and 55 free trade areas.

Covering an area of 872 square kilometers, the expanded area is expected to benchmark the world’s most competitive regions in the establishment of fair trade.

Unlike other free trade zones, the Lingang new area will seek differentiated development paths, position itself toward long-term strategic development and explore how to better integrate institutional innovations with industrial growth.

As the world’s second-largest economy pursues high-quality development, and as the international trade environment becomes more complex, Lingang should focus on key sectors like integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and civil aviation, and create a better business climate for the free flow of capital, Sun noted.

To support the special new area, the Shanghai government rolled out 50 preferential policies in late August in areas like finance, taxation and human resources.