Tingting

In August 2019， China set up six new pilot Free Trade Zones （FTZs）， bringing the total number of the countrys pilot FTZs to 18. And China （Guangxi） Pilot Free Trade Zone （GFTZ） is one of six such FTZs.

“Leveraging the unique advantages that Guangxi possesses in its road and sea linkages with ASEAN countries， GFTZ will act as a new corridor targeting ASEAN， and gear towards exploring development paths and writing a brilliant chapter with Guangxis advantages for China-ASEAN further cooperation，” said Tan Xiuhong， Member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Against this background， Li Guanghui， Chief Expert of Free Trade Zone Strategy Research Institute of University of International Business and Economics， and Academic Dean of Innovation and Development Research Institute， Guangxi University indicated that Guangxi should make full use of its strengths to understand the overall development goal of GFTZ， grasp new opportunities， and promote GFTZs specific construction？

Ports， passageways and portals

“According to GFTZs goals， we can see that the chief goal of GFTZ is to provide sea outlets for the southwestern， central-south and northwestern regions， to serve the western development and opening-up strategy， and form a new pattern of land and sea. Accordingly， GFTZ can develop marine economy， port economy and port logistics， ” said Li.

“Next， GFTZ will act as a new international land-sea trade corridor targeting the ASEAN region. The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor is located in the hinterland of western China， linking up with the Belt and Road and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. It will strengthen the connection between northwest and southwest China， promote industrial cooperation layout， transformation and upgrade， and make the new land-sea corridor in western China an important driving force for high-quality development in the western region. In this area， GFTZ can develop trade and logistics， cross-border industrial agglomeration and border finance，” added Li， “Besides， GFTZ will become an important gateway for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt， forming a closed loop here and a new area for international economic cooperation. In this area， GFTZ can develop modern services such as modern finance， smart logistics， digital economy， cultural media and new manufacturing.”

Based on its development goal， over the next three to five years， GFTZ will embark on institutional innovations in line with advanced international standards， in a bid to boost quality， efficiency and competitiveness in its economic development. Besides， resources will be put into creating a world-class free trade zone that facilitates China-ASEAN cooperation through implementing trade- and investment-friendly policies， maintains a comprehensive financial services sector， demonstrates safe and efficient oversight and wields significant influence on neighbouring areas.

New opportunities behind new positioning

The GFTZ is geared towards accumulating replicable and scalable experience， and bringing new opportunities to Guangxis opening-up and economic development.

Li pointed out that to provide a world-class business environment for GFTZ， Guangxi will intensify the reform of business environment standards， fully implement the management system of pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list， and improve the mechanism for promoting and protecting investment， cultivating a new promising land for investment along China-Vietnam border and a new platform for promoting China-ASEAN investment liberalization and facilitation.

“Also， Guangxi and ASEAN countries can jointly cultivate new forms and models of trade. In GFTZ， the integrated free trade zones may be fully applicable to the supervision policies for retail & import of cross-border E-commerce. And Guangxi can build a cluster of headquarters economy， such as international trade and modern finance，” said Li.

Li said， “For example， by relying on the construction of GFTZ， Pingxiang， a crucial city on China-Vietnam border， can enhance cooperation with Vietnam in such areas as tourism， cross-border resource processing， health care， education， finance and so on， so as to deepen cooperation with Vietnam and lead the new development direction of China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation.”

Seizing new opportunities and making a forward-looking layout

The establishment of FTZs is a significant milestone for Chinas opening up. However， the grand blueprint must be concretely implemented. Li indicated that the government also needs to speed up the transformation of government functions， promote the transformation and upgrade of trade， facilitate innovation-driven development， and deepen investment reform and financial sector innovation.

Focusing on the development goal of GFTZ， Guangxi will be committed to building “five zones and one port”. According to Tan Xiuhong， by virtue of such platforms as CAEXPO， “Two Countries， Twin Parks” between China and Malaysia， and China-ASEAN Information Port， Guangxi will form a pilot zone for international investment and trade facing ASEAN， accelerate the establishment of a new trade and investment mechanism featuring fair， open and orderly competition， and effectively link the construction of GFTZ and an upgraded version of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.

In the aspect of building a core area of financial opening-up， Guangxi will take the lead in exploring the internationalization of RMB towards ASEAN， preparing for the establishment of China-ASEAN Financial Cooperation Institute， and accelerating the gathering of financial institution headquarters， Sino-foreign financial branches， and financial back-office service institutions.

In the aspect of building a leading zone for opening up along the border， Guangxi will be prior to carry out and try many measures to build a new height land for opening up along the border and a demonstration zone for cross-border industrial cooperation.

In the aspect of building a cluster district of marine economy， Guangxi will rely on a cluster of ports of Beibu Gulf， explore to establish a coastal green industry development system， so as to build a national petrochemical industrial base for ASEAN and a new energy automobile industry base of Beibu Gulf. Also， Guangxi will proactively develop medicine industry with herbal medicine from ASEAN as raw materials， striving to form a higher level， more efficient international industrial chain.

In the aspect of building an open and innovative zone for modern service industries， Guangxi will focus on integrating GFTZ with China-ASEAN Information Harbor， building an industrial cluster for digital economy， exploring and promoting innovative cooperation oriented towards ASEAN， and setting up a modern service industry system.

In the aspect of building a gateway of New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor， Guangxi will intensify policy innovation of Beibu Gulf Port， accelerate the construction of China-ASEAN port city network， improve the multimodal transport system， promote the agglomeration of high-end shipping service， boost the development of international shipping and supporting industrial cluster， speed up the construction of a service base of International Land-Sea Trade Corridor for the southwestern， central-south and northwestern regions.

“The construction of GFTZ is related to the image of China， Guangxis opening up， as well as the optimization of the business environment in the whole region. We have determination and confidence in the successful construction of GFTZ，” said Tan Xiuhong.