China’s State Council announced official plans for a new pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Beijing in September 2020, with the publication of the Overall Plan for China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone notice.
The new Beijing FTZ is to concentrate on technological development and innovation, with a focus on promoting further opening-up and innovation in financial and trade services. It will cover an area of more than 119 sq km across three specific sections: The Technical Innovation Zone, the International Business Service Area, and the High-End Industry Zone.
In the same announcement the State Council also announced plans for two other new trade zones, in Hunan and Abhui, together with the expansion of the existing Zhejiang zone.
The new trade zones will bring the total number of FTZs within China to 21, with the first, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, having opened in 2013, and the expansion plan represents the latest implementation of the central government’s strategy of creating distinct regional industrial clusters.
We expect that the establishment of the new Beijing Free Trade Zone will help drive continued agglomeration of high-end industries, growth in talent dividends, and rapid development in the tertiary industry and the data economy -- together becoming a catalyst for sustained prosperity in Beijing’s office leasing market and a buoyant investment market.
