The View | Shanghai can be made a global financial hub – if China fixes some fixable problems
- With one year to go before the deadline, Shanghai still doesn’t have what it takes to be a global trading centre. China’s plans for Shanghai are going the way of its other promises: it talks about being open but keeps markets controlled
Still, there was cause for optimism. Although China had been dragging its feet on commitments made during its accession to the World Trade Organisation, in many ways the economy was moving steadily in a more liberal direction, with increasing levels of integration with the rest of the world. With less than a year left before the 2020 deadline, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai polled members to measure China’s progress. While all surveyed agreed that China had made great strides in elevating Shanghai, the vast majority did not believe that the city would be a global financial hub by 2020.
Other factors impeding China’s progress towards its Shanghai 2020 goal include a lack of consistent and transparent application of laws. Indeed, when asked about the Chinese mechanisms for handling commercial disputes, half the respondents described them as neither fair nor transparent.