Officials and scholars have praised a comprehensive plan to enhance openness in Shanghai as another significant step by China in pioneering high-level institutional opening up.

Photo shows a city view of Shanghai, eastern China, Nov. 4, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's State Council recently unveiled a plan to align the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone fully with high-standard international economic and trade rules. This comprehensive guideline includes an extensive range of 80 measures across seven key areas: trade in services, goods trade, digital trade, intellectual property protection, government procurement, reform of "behind-the-border" rules, and risk control.

Ni Yueju, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, described the plan as involving measures of "unprecedented scale and scope." She said it demonstrates China's "resolve and confidence" in promoting high-level institutional opening up, signifying a shift from an openness based on the flow of goods and factors to the one centered on rules, regulations, management, and standards, also known as "behind-the-border" openness. 

"This represents a higher stage in the development of an open economy and is seen as a necessary trend and crucial aspect of institutional openness. It also signifies a new phase in China's opening up to the outside world," Ni said.

Tang Wenhong, assistant minister of commerce, highlighted the plan's commitment to high-level institutional opening up.

At a policy briefing on Friday, he said the plan aims to enhance opening up in financial services and deepen international cooperation in digital trade, among other objectives. "This will strongly facilitate the free and convenient cross-border movement of elements such as goods, technologies, capital, and data," he said.

Tang also pointed out the significance of the "behind-the-border" aspects of the plan, noting that over half of the 80 measures specifically address these internal policy areas. These include advancing the reform of government procurement systems, deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), increasing the protection of workers' rights, and implementing high-level environmental protection measures. "Through deep-level reform and innovation, these measures aim to explore pathways for advancing key domestic reforms," he said.

The Shanghai plan is a follow-up to a set of measures released in June, designed to expand openness in five pilot free trade zones including Shanghai and the Hainan free trade port. 

Cui Fan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, said the Shanghai plan is more "comprehensive" than earlier measures. He highlighted its thorough approach, particularly in areas like reform of SOEs, workers' rights protection, government procurement reform, and intellectual property rights protection. "All of these involve very deep-level reforms," he said.

He cited government procurement as an example, noting the plan includes 15 measures to standardize procurement procedures and make them more transparent.

Shanghai has long been at the forefront of China's reform and opening up. Since establishing the country's first free trade zone in 2013, the city has pioneered or piloted nearly half of China's 302 institutional innovation policies in free trade zones, according to Hua Yuan, vice mayor of Shanghai.