- Shanghai’s authorities have doubled the free-trade zone to 240 square kilometres by including part of Lingang, a previously untapped area linked to the Yangshan deep water port
- The expansion reflected the city’s renewed efforts to build a free marketplace that can rival regional business hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore
Aerial photo taken on March 9, 2017 shows the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ). Photo: Xinhua
Shanghai’s ambitious plan to turn Lingang into a Hong Kong-style free-trade port has yet to impress European companies due to a slow pace of enforcement with a series of liberalisations subject to Beijing’s approval.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said on Tuesday that the business lobby group was expecting concrete measures to be implemented at the 119.5-square kilometre newly expanded free-trade zone (FTZ), which would whet European companies’ investment appetite, but it also vented dismay towards the slow progress.
It was advisable for the government to carry out planned reforms sooner to convince foreign investors of the golden opportunities inside the zone, said Carlo Diego D’Andrea, the chamber’s Shanghai chairman, who is also vice-president of the EU business chamber in China.
“After so many years [of waiting], we would like to see reform happen soon, not just the talks,” he said in an interview with South China Morning Post.
Shanghai doubled the size of the free-trade zone last month to about 240 sq km by including part of Lingang, a previously untapped area that is linked to the
Yangshan deep water port.
The expansion reflected the city’s renewed efforts to build a free marketplace that can rival regional business hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
Where is China’s Silicon Valley? SCMP Graphics
Hong Kong’s ongoing street protests against a controversial extradition bill have wreaked havoc on the city’s economy and brought an
opportunity to mainland metropolises such as Shanghai and Shenzhen to catch up with the special administrative region.
Shanghai plans to impose zero tariffs on imported goods inside the Lingang FTZ, but the reform measures cannot be implemented unless the General Administration of Customs gives a green light.
Shanghai’s city government had proposed a series of incentives aimed at building Lingang into a world-class investment magnet, the free-trade zone’s deputy director Wu Wei said at a Friday press conference, without elaborating on when the policies might be endorsed by the relevant ministry-level authorities.
Professor Zhou Zhenhua, president of Shanghai Academy of Global Cities, said the central government was still cautious of taking drastic steps in quickly liberalising the Lingang FTZ amid worries of rampant capital and cargo flows.
US bestselling electric vehicle maker Tesla has built its Gigafactory 3 at the Lingang FTZ after it secured an approval from Beijing to establish a wholly owned assembly plant late last year.
The approval for the first wholly-owned foreign car factory on mainland China coincided with a sales drop in the country’s automobile market, the first contraction in nearly three decades.
“Why could not you have opened the market before when the market was booming,” said D’Andrea.
He said that the timing of scrapping the foreign ownership cap amid the first negative growth of the domestic car market in three decades was not enough to show Beijing’s determinations in drawing overseas funds.
Beijing has been harping on its resolution in further opening up the markets to foreign businesses as a way of amid the US-China trade war that began in 2018.
Source: SCMP
Posted on 24/09/2019 at 12:51 in Central government, China’s Silicon Valley, electric vehicle maker, embracing, European firms, European Union Chamber of Commerce, expanded, expansion, foreign car factory, free marketplace, free trade zone (FTZ), Gigafactory, Hong Kong, Lingang, lookout, Mainland China, regional business hubs, rival, Shanghai, Shanghai Academy of Global Cities, Shenzhen, Singapore, south china morning post, tangible incentives, Tesla, Uncategorized, US-China trade war, Yangshan deep-water port, zero tariffs | RSS feed
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