China, since 2012, has been expediting the construction of free trade zones at home and the negotiation on free trade agreements. These efforts have paid off with the FTZs and FTAs not only stoking China's economic growth, but also laying a solid foundation for China's participation in global economic governance.
Implementing the FTZ strategy is conducive to China's adaption into the increasingly complex environment at home and abroad, as well as the constructing of an open economy in China, said Li Guanghui, a researcher of international trade with the Ministry of Commerce.
With the collective rise of the emerging economies and developing countries, the global trade system is restructuring. The FTZ strategy boosts economic globalization, fairness and justice in global trading system, and improves China's ability to take part in global economic governance, Li said.
The FTZ also supports China's pursuit of an innovation-driven growth model, while its cooperation with foreign countries expands China's strategic space, said Yuan Bo, a researcher of Asia studies with the Ministry of Commerce.
The free trade area strategy also presses China to constantly make breakthroughs in its reform and economic restructuring, Yuan added.
The economic scale of the FTAs which China has signed agreements to co-build with its partners accounts for 10.3 percent of the global total, and the partners have become an important export market, import source and investment target of China.
The central authorities proposed to accelerate the implementation of the free trade area strategy in 2013, which is based on neighboring regions, and form a free trade area network along the Belt and Road routes in 2014.
Among China's 20 free trade partners, 12 are located on the routes of the Belt and Road.