China News recently reported that China just announced the establishment of six more free trade zones in Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Hebei, Yunnan, and Heilongjiang Provinces. By now China has a total of 18 free trade zones and all coastal provinces are covered. The focuses of the free trade zones are different. However, this round of new zones mainly emphasizes transportation, high-tech, logistics, high-end manufacturing, health, biology, tourism, culture, and financial areas. Developing relationships with geographically nearby countries, such as South Korea and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, was also set as a priority. The new announcement also mentioned the importance of the experimental nature of the free trade zones as well as the necessity of risk control. Meanwhile, according to LTN (Taiwan), China’s first free trade zone, the Shanghai Zone, suffered the record of not being able to deliver on key promises such as the free flow of currencies.
Source: China News, August 27, 2019
http://finance.chinanews.com/cj/2019/08-27/8938498.shtml
Source: Liberty Times Network (LTN), September 2, 2019
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/2903528