Shenzhen's Qianhai has secured the top position in system innovation among China’s 57 free trade zone (FTZ) areas, according to a report unveiled yesterday by the Free Trade Zone Research Institute at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.

The 2023-2024 China Pilot Free Trade Zone System Innovation Index places Pudong in Shanghai and Nansha in Guangzhou in the second and third spots, respectively. The top 10 are rounded out by Lingang in Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing, Xiamen in Fujian Province, Chengdu in Sichuan Province, Hengqin in Zhuhai, and Chongqing. Hengqin climbed to ninth place this year, displacing Wuhan in Hubei Province.

Shanghai and Guangdong have maintained their lead in FTZ development. This year’s report also incorporated Xinjiang’s FTZ areas of Urumqi, Horgos, and Kashgar for the first time.

The report evaluates performance across key areas such as trade facilitation, investment liberalization, financial reform and innovation, governance, and the legal environment, as explained by Fu Zhengping, the institute’s director.

Since establishing the first pilot FTZ in Shanghai in 2013, China now has 21 FTZs nationwide. A total of 302 institutional innovations have been nurtured in these areas before being promoted nationwide, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Over the past decade, these zones accounted for 18% of the nation’s foreign investment and foreign trade volume, despite occupying less than 0.04% of the country’s land area.

After eight years of operation, the GDP of the Guangdong Pilot FTZ more than doubled to 466.3 billion yuan (US$65.4 billion) in 2022. The zone has concentrated on developing a modern industrial system encompassing sectors such as automobiles, artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals, health care, integrated circuits, modern financial services, and professional services, according to the provincial commerce department.

Established in 2015, the Guangdong FTZ encompasses three areas — Hengqin in Zhuhai, Nansha in Guangzhou, and Qianhai and Shekou in Shenzhen. It has attracted over 260,000 new businesses and utilized US$50 billion in foreign investment.