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Shanghai free-trade zone

Shanghai free-trade zone
Shanghai free-trade zone (FTZ) is the first Hong Kong-like free-trade area in mainland China. The Shanghai FTZ will first span 28.78 square kilometres in the city's Pudong New Area, including the Waigaoqiao duty-free zone and Yangshan port and it is believed it may eventually expand to cover the entire Pudong district, which covers 1,210.4 sq km of land.
last updated:
28 June, 2024
Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
China’s third plenum

China needs ‘big bang measures’ to jolt economy, but last reforms spur doubts

Some of the ambitious economic goals set in 2013 were modified to match the geopolitical landscape and inward challenges of recent years, and the July 15-18 third plenum presents Beijing another chance to alter or stay the course.

China-Russia relations

China shipbuilders cast off Russia, yielding to West’s sanctions and blacklist

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Cybersecurity

Shanghai releases white list to expedite overseas data transfers for companies

China technology

Data flow centre walks the talk, China’s foreign firms eye ‘wider roll-out’

Data flow service centre in Lingang free-trade zone in Shanghai will adopt internationally recognised standards and aim to help entities navigate requirements amid China’s push to reassure and retain foreign firms.

China’s onerous, opaque data security structures that limit or prohibit outbound data transfers are perennial challenge facing foreign businesses. Photo: Xinhua
Banking & finance

China’s cabinet urges Shanghai Lingang free-trade zone to deepen reforms

The State Council, China’s cabinet, has urged Shanghai to further simplify customs procedures and liberalise financial markets to spur cross-border cargo and capital flows in the Lingang free-trade zone.

Xi Jinping

Chinese leader showcases policy priorities on first Shanghai trip since 2020

The Chinese President’s itinerary included a futures exchange, technology fair and affordable housing project signalling some of the main items on his agenda.

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China economy

China’s Communist Party signals further delay to key economic session

Politburo holds monthly meeting but makes no mention of when the party’s much-anticipated plenum will take place.

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President Xi Jinping is tentatively expected to visit Shanghai for three days this week. Photo: Xinhua
Artificial intelligence

Shanghai backs China’s AI push with new industrial park for data

The International Data Economy Industrial Park aims to attract more than 100 leading data companies with a combined output of over 100 billion yuan by 2025.

China's economic recovery

Key to driving China’s economic development still free-trade zones: premier

Premier Li Qiang concluded a two-day inspection of Shanghai’s free-trade zone on Thursday, saying the markets are ‘still tasked with important missions’ amid China’s slowing post-Covid recovery.

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China's border reopening

IDG Capital, Brookfield among 7 firms granted access by Shanghai to unlisted firms

Shanghai has approved another seven institutions – including IDG Capital and Brookfield – for the QFLP scheme, which allows foreign funds to buy shares in unlisted companies and launch yuan-denominated venture-capital products.

The Bund in Shanghai. Beijing launched the QFLP scheme in China’s financial capital in 2011. Photo: Xinhua
Artificial intelligence

Shanghai doubles down on hunt for AI talent amid ChatGPT frenzy

Shanghai currently has the largest number of intelligent chip-design enterprises in China, but it lacks top algorithm talent, experts said.

A staff member looks at a robot at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July 2020. Photo: Reuters
Shanghai

Shanghai pledges more support for small businesses to boost economic recovery

Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng on Sunday said more economic sweeteners, such as tax cuts and government subsidies, are now in the works to address the problems faced by the city’s small businesses.

China's border reopening

Shanghai’s economy to ‘boom amid post-Covid influx of foreign investment’

Shanghai’s economy, battered by lockdowns this year, will grow at least 6 per cent in 2023 as China’s exit from its zero-Covid policy ushers in a wave of foreign capital, according to an economic adviser.

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Tesla

Tesla’s China factory running at half capacity, highlights hurdles Shanghai faces

Tesla’s Shanghai factory is assembling 1,000 vehicles a day – just half of its output before the city’s latest Covid-19 outbreak – after resuming work this week

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Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 in the Lingang free-trade zone. The US carmaker has incurred a loss of about 50,000 units during the 22-day hiatus in production. Photo: Reuters
China property

Lingang makes home purchases easier to boost Covid-ravaged Shanghai

China’s property easing measures have reached Shanghai, the site of its worst Covid-19 outbreak, as Beijing tries to bolster the world’s second-largest economy.

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The Lingang free-trade zone is home to Tesla’s Gigafactory 3. Photo: Bloomberg
Coronavirus China

Shanghai’s daily Covid-19 cases soar by a record 13,354 amid lockdown

Shanghai authorities are taking no chances with the highly transmissible Omicron variant, vowing to track down, quarantine and deal with every single case to achieve its “dynamic zero” Covid-19 policy.

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Coronavirus China

Shanghai offers US$22 billion aid for businesses to survive lockdown

Most of the 20,000 Covid-19 infections recorded are asymptomatic, but authorities are taking no chances in an economy that is already expected to slow this year from last year’s 8.1 per cent clip.

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Semiconductors

Shanghai offers big subsidies to attract chip talent and investment

Government will subsidise up to 30 per cent of investment in semiconductor materials and equipment projects in the city.

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Shanghai is offering generous subsidies to attract semiconductor talent to the city. Photo: Shutterstock
SMIC

China’s top chip maker SMIC plans US$9 billion plant in Shanghai

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation is building a chip fabrication plant in Shanghai’s free-trade zone, joining other planned fabs, amid Beijing’s push to advance the semiconductor industry.

China economy

China grants policy leeway to spur Shanghai as nation’s growth pioneer

China will halve the tax rates for qualified technology companies in Shanghai’s Pudong district and grant the local government greater freedoms in making its own legislation and liberalising the capital markets.

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Urban planning

Shanghai looks to the suburbs to reduce population density in city

The grand plan is already attracting early investors to cherry-pick on the best land plots and most promising districts.

Large crowd of people on tThe Bund along the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China’s premier commercial hub and one of the country’s largest megapolises, with a population of 25 million residents, on May 1, 2020. Photo: AFP
Shenzhen

Opinion | Playing to cities’ strengths drives China’s growth potential

Major cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen are vital to China’s economic future, but none are more important than the other as each has a unique role to play. By recognising and investing in the strengths of pioneering cities and regions, China has built a powerful mechanism for driving its economic transformation.

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A night view of the Shenzhen skyline. Photo: Xinhua
Shenzhen

Former fishing village could thwart Shanghai’s international ambitions

Shanghai’s efforts to build itself into an international financial hub suffered a blow when Beijing granted greater autonomy to Shenzhen, according to analysts.

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Tesla

Shanghai wants to drive up Lingang output with more firms like Tesla

The Shanghai government is pulling out all stops to draw foreign investment to the Lingang free-trade zone, with the aim of driving up its annual industrial output to 600 billion yuan (US$86.7 billion) by 2022.

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Tesla

Wait time for Model 3 drops to two weeks in all-important China market

The wait for Model 3s has dropped to just two weeks for Tesla’s mainland fans, after production was ramped up at the Shanghai plant.

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The Tesla factory in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters
Hong Kong national security law

Shanghai’s quest to be global finance hub boosted by Hong Kong troubles

As questions linger over Hong Kong’s status as a global finance hub, China’s decades-old quest to make Shanghai the country’s premier financial centre has gained a bit of momentum, but large obstacles remain.

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China has long had dreams of turning Shanghai into the country’s premier financial centre. Photo: AFP
Inside Out & Outside In

Financial hub Hong Kong can’t be ‘killed off’ by Macau, Hainan or Shanghai

Whatever the international angst over the new security law, Beijing will not let anyone hinder Hong Kong’s growth, or dilute its contribution to China’s re-engagement with the global economy.

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China economy

Shanghai to replicate ‘China’s Wall St’ along North Bund waterfront

Shanghai will give its North Bund a facelift, turning the 3.3 square kilometre waterfront area into another Lujiazui, as part of efforts to shake off worries about economic underperformance amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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