What we know ... and don’t know about China’s plans for Guangdong Free Trade Zone
The high-profile Guangdong Free Trade Zone is to be launched on March 18, after China's National People's Congress, according to reports.
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 March, 2015, 2:15pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 10 March, 2015, 5:23pm
Mimi Lau in Guangzhou [email protected]
Premier Li Keqiang urged Guangdong to focus on high-end services during a visit to Nansha in the province''s free-trade zone in January. Photo: Xinhua
The high-profile Guangdong Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is to be launched on March 18, after China's National People's Congress, according to reports.
The country's three new free-trade zones - Fujian, Guangdong and Tianjin - were originally scheduled to open on February 27 and March 1, but were then postponed until after the annual parliamentary sessions, which end on Sunday.
Read more: Guangdong Free Trade Zone to launch on March 18, say sources
Shanghai's Free Trade Zone, the first one in the country, has also delayed the official relaunch of its expanded zone. However, it is not clear if the Fujian, Tianjin and Shanghai zones will also open on March 18.
The postponements were ordered because top leaders were unsatisfied with the latest proposals by the local governments, some Guangdong-based experts said late last month.
Premier Li Keqiang visited Nansha New Area, in the province's free-trade zone in January, when he urged Guangdong to focus on high-end services.
Here we take a look at what we do know - and don't know - about the proposed Guangdong FTZ.
What do we know about Guangdong FTZ?
i) Its major role will be to enhance cooperation with both Hong Kong and Macau by relaxing restrictions on investors, and also allow greater recognition for professionals from the two territories to work in the Guangdong FTZ.
ii) It covers 116 square km and includes parts of Guangzhou’s Nansha New Area, Qianhai and Shekou in Shenzhen, as well as Hengqin in Zhuhai. Qianhai will work with Hong Kong on financial measures; Hengqin will explore cooperation with Macau, while Nansha will take advantage of its central location in the Pearl River Delta to focus on technology upgrade.
iii) The Guangdong government will set up a coordination authority with provincial-level powers to coordinate policies, develop strategies, direct reform and study major development issues facing the FTZ.
Under its control will be the Guangdong FTZ management authority, tasked with duties including drafting pilot regulations and coordinating cross-border collaboration.
Each of the Guangdong FTZ districts in Nansha, Hengqin, Qianhai and Shekou will be managed by its own district management body, headed by the local city governments of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai.
iv) Guangdong FTZ was also known as the Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macau FTZ during its proposed stage in 2013. It was criticised for failing to break through the shackles of the existing Closer Economic Partnership Agreement. An application for a free-trade zone across the nation was suspended last June. It was officially approved by the State Council last December, along with the FTZs in Tianjin and Fujian.
What we don’t know about the Guangdong FTZ?
i) Whether ... there will be a free flow of information within the FTZ, so that companies can enjoy barrier-free internet access to Facebook and Twitter
ii) ... it can bring in genuinely relaxed taxation and custom measures, which one day can lead to a reduction in cross-border mainland shoppers, plus other administrative reform measures that can be adopted across the nation
iii) ... it will become a hotbed for money laundering
iv) ... the governance structure of the Guangdong FTZ will be too complicated for efficient governance
v) ... an anti-corruption agency, comparable to Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, will be set up
vi) ... Hong Kong and Macau companies will be willing to share their service industry talents with Guangdong because of lingering memories of them losing their manufacturing industries to Guangdong during the 1980s.
