Abstract
As China’s opening-up grows wider under the Belt and Road Initiative, the exploration and construction of free trade ports have received increasing attention. In 2018, China’s first free trade port was settled in Hainan instead of Shanghai. In 2019, after the Lingang New Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was approved by the central government, six new pilot free trade zones were launched in Shandong, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Yunnan, and Guangxi provinces. As the bridgehead of the Belt and Road Initiative, Shanghai established the first and biggest pilot free trade zone in China and gained the priority of institutional innovation exploration in Lingang New Area. Whether and how Shanghai will lead the construction of free trade ports and the new round of higher-level opening-up has become a research agenda that requires further study. Based on the document analysis, competition analysis and factor analysis in this paper, the following results were drawn out: (1) The construction of a free trade port is an upgrade of the 18 free trade zones and the 50 cities involved, and it needs more high-level opening-up, more sophisticated services, more rigorous supervision, and more professional talent; (2) With its geographical location, economic foundation, development support, and industrial services, Shanghai has the potential, foundation, and momentum to explore institutional innovation in the construction of pilot free trade zones and free trade port; (3) Development basis, port shipping, talent attraction, service support, risk supervision and control are the five major comparative advantages and the important driving factors that need to be considered in exploring and leading the construction of China’s free trade port under the higher quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Highlights
The “Belt and Road Initiative” offers a fundamentally novel approach towards international trade, investment, and global governance when many institutions developed in the West are being called into question (Chaisse and Górski 2018)
In August 2019, when the Lingang New Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone began its management of special economic zones, Shanghai took the lead in exploring the institutional construction of free trade ports
With a solid economic foundation, good development potential, superior geographical location, and reasonable policy support, the construction of a free trade port in Shanghai must be an important starting point for Shanghai to implement the strategic positioning of the aim that “Shanghai Free Trade Zone will be a bridgehead of the Belt and Road Initiative”
Summary
The “Belt and Road Initiative” offers a fundamentally novel approach towards international trade, investment, and global governance when many institutions developed in the West are being called into question (Chaisse and Górski 2018). In August 2019, when the Lingang New Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone began its management of special economic zones, Shanghai took the lead in exploring the institutional construction of free trade ports. These factors and representative events will promote Shanghai to become the forerunner of China’s free trade port construction. This paper analyzes Shanghai’s comparative advantages on the development foundation, service support, talent attraction, port shipping, risk monitoring for the institutional exploration of a free trade port and the higher quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative in the hope that Shanghai can more clearly recognize its position and development direction so as to promote the open development of economy in Shanghai and even across the country
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