bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

George Chen

Daniel Ren

President Xi Jinping paid an unexpected first visit to the Shanghai free-trade zone yesterday.
Xi, together with the local Shanghai Communist Party chief Han Zheng and Mayor Yang Xiong, visited several locations and greeted local staff, according to a source who accompanied Xi. The Hong Kong-style economic zone was launched last October.
The zone is considered an integral part of China's economic and foreign exchange reform under Xi's leadership.
Xi has been in Shanghai this week for a regional security summit where he met Vladimir Putin and signed a gas deal worth US$400 billion with the Russian president.
The Shanghai free-trade zone had been widely considered a policy initiative driven by Premier Li Keqiang. But Li failed to attend the launch ceremony of the economic zone, instead sending ministerial-level officials to Shanghai in his place.
This fuelled speculation over how committed China's top leadership was in supporting the free-trade zone and economic reform in general.

Yesterday Xi "highly praised the work that has been done so far in the Shanghai free trade zone", one source at the site said, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media. "Everybody is so happy and Xi apparently is in a very good mood after the summit," said the source, referring to the regional security meeting.
"People used to ask why Li Keqiang didn't come to the zone [for the launch ceremony]. Now Xi has come, so I guess there's nothing to worry about anymore over whether the central government supports the free-trade zone or not," said the source.
Shanghai vice-mayor Tu Guangshao on Thursday heralded further financial liberalisation in the zone, fuelling speculation about future full convertibility of the yuan in the test bed for mainland economic reform.
The People's Bank of China allowed companies registered in the zone and foreign institutions to open special bank accounts yesterday. Capital will be allowed to be freely converted and transferred between overseas accounts and zone accounts, known as "offshore accounts".
However, the move falls short of full convertibility of the yuan, with the central bank saying regulators will monitor capital flows closely and suspend transfers if they spot irregularities in cross-border transactions.
Although Tu did not explicitly spell out that the policy would pave the way for a fully liberalised capital account in the zone, he sent a clear message that the long-expected deregulation was in the pipeline.


How China’s reforms went from arms wide open to an ‘eternal theme’ of risk prevention in the past decade

China shipbuilders cast off Russia, yielding to Western sanctions after blacklisting

Shanghai releases white list to expedite overseas data transfers for Tesla, other firms in city’s free-trade zone

Shanghai’s data flow centre walks the talk, promises international standards, but China’s foreign firms need ‘faster, wider roll-out’

Shanghai free-trade zone

Xi Jinping shows support for Shanghai free-trade zone in whistle-stop visit

Xi Jinping made his first visit to the zone yesterday. Photo: SCMP

The zone is considered an integral part of China's economic and foreign exchange reform under Xi's leadership. Photo: Bloomberg

More reforms on the way in Shanghai FTZ, says vice-mayor

Shanghai's free-trade zone is the test bed for mainland financial reforms, including full convertibility of the yuan. Photo: Bloomberg

News

China

Business

Economy

Global Economy

President Xi Jinping, together with the local Shanghai Communist Party chief Han Zheng and Mayor Yang Xiong, paid an unexpected first visit to the Shanghai free-trade zone yesterday.
