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中国：上海に続く新たな自由貿易試験区設置へ

New Free Trade Zones to Set Up in China 中国：上海に続く新たな自由貿易試験区設置へ

China will set up three new free-trade zones in Guangdong, Fujian and Tianjin, based on experience drawn from experiments in Shanghai's free trade zone, to test greater opening-up and tap the economy's huge potential to hedge against mounting downward pressure in 2015. The Chinese government has been authorized to ease investment rules in three new free trade zones (FTZs) after top legislature gave the go ahead during a bi-monthly meeting on 28 December, 2014. Shanghai’s free trade zone, or FTZ, which opened in September 2013, was heralded as a laboratory for ambitious free market reforms that would lift everything from financial and currency restrictions to administrative controls on foreign investment. But investors have been mostly disappointed by progress in the zone and say it provides almost no advantages for foreign or domestic companies operating there. There are virtually no business or investment activities permitted in the Shanghai zone that are not also allowed in the rest of China and the reforms that have been announced so far have been tiny and incremental. The Shanghai zone has also faced opposition from local officials, as well as some ministries in charge of financial and economic oversight and has also already been affected by an alleged corruption scandal that saw the removal of one of its most senior officials. In a statement announcing the three new zones, the State Council, China’s cabinet, also promised more experimentation would be conducted within the existing Shanghai FTZ to encourage foreign investment and the development of advanced manufacturing and the service sectors. The new zones will be based on the Shanghai model but will also include “local characteristics” the statement said. According to the resolution, the Guangdong FTZ, with a total area of 116.2 square km, will include zones in the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. The Tianjin FTZ, with a total area of 119.9 square km, will consist of three sections around the Tianjin Port, Tianjin Airport and the Binhai New Area industrial park. The Fujian FTZ, with a total area of 118.04 square km, will include industrial areas in the provincial capital of Fuzhou, the city of Xiamen, and Pingtan, a new industrial park targeting Taiwan investment. An area of 91.94 square km will also be added to the Shanghai FTZ. President Xi says that Shanghai pilot zone reforms can bear fruit elsewhere The business model behind the pioneering China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone should now be copied at other suitable sites across the country where conditions are right, according to President Xi Jinping. Addressing a meeting of top decision-makers, the president said the experience gained in the Shanghai FTZ "are like seeds cultivated in a test field, and now we will plant them across a greater range of sites, in a hope that they will bear more fruit". Xi acknowledged the progress made in the Shanghai FTZ, praising the efforts in transforming government functions, facilitating investment and trade, and improving the business environment. Growth in Chinese trade has been lacklustre for the last year and has slumped in recent months, causing concern among policy makers who are also confronted with a sharp slowdown in domestic real estate and serious overcapacity throughout the industrial sector. China is on track to post its slowest annual growth rate in 25 years this year and Beijing sees boosting trade and exports as the simplest and most effective way of stopping growth from falling further. Officials have recently discussed the possibility of setting up more FTZs in countries in Southeast and Central Asia along what Beijing has dubbed the “21st Century Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road” trade routes between China and Europe. For more information, please contact Phoebe Luo in our Shanghai office at phoebe@zetland.biz. 中国政府は2014年12月28日に行われた隔月開催の常務会議にて、自由貿易試験区（ＦＴＺ）を広東省、福建省、天津市の三箇所に新設する方針を決定しました。設置済みの上海市での自由貿易試験区の経験を活かした、2015年に予想される経済の下降圧力への対応策です。 2013年に設置された上海の自由貿易試験区（ＦＴＺ）は中国における自由市場の先駆者として金融規制や通貨規制などを含むあらゆる海外からの投資規制緩和が期待されていました。 しかし実際は自由化がなかなか進まず、投資家の間では試験区内にて国内企業または国外企業が活動するメリットがないという意見が目立ちます。上海試験区にて行える企業活動において試験区外の中国全土で行えないものが基本的になく、地区の抜本的な改革はほとんど実現していません。 加えて、上海試験区は地元の幹部からの反発も多く、また汚職疑惑により上海自由貿易試験区のトップが更迭されています。 中国国務院の今回の発表では、新たな取り組みを上海試験区に取り入れ、更なる外国投資や高度製造技術の促進に加えサービス業のサービス向上を図る計画です。新設される３試験区においては上海試験区をモデルにしながらも、地元の特色を活かした構想を建てていると発表しています。 広東試験区の面積は広州、深セン、珠海を含む116.2平方キロメートル。 天津試験区の面積は天津港、天津空港、濱海工業区を含む119.9平方キロメートル。 福建試験区では省都である福州市、廈門市、台湾との経済交流拠点として注目される平潭島の工業公園を含む118.04平方キロメートルになります。 更に上海試験区でも91.94平方キロメートルの拡大工事が計画されています。 習近平国家主席は上海試験地区のリフォームについて、一連の成果を得たと評価した上で「上海試験区の開設で得た経験を他の地域にもなるべく早く広げ更なる成果を上げるべき」と述べました。 上海試験区の成果が、中国における投資や貿易の促進や中国でのビジネス環境の改善につながったと評価しています。 中国では、去年の貿易成長率は滞りここ数ヶ月は降下をたどりました。国内の不動産需要が急降下をたどり、工業地ではキャパが大幅に余剰しています。 中国は経済成長後の道をたどり始めており、経済成長率は過去25年の中でもっとも低いものでした。中央政府は、貿易を盛んにし輸出を増やすことは経済成長率降下の停止に最も効果的だとの見方を示しています。 中国の南東地域や中央アジアにまたがる同試験区の設置も検討されており、中国とヨーロッパの貿易ルートとして発展するよう「21世紀の経済シルクロードベルト、及び海上シルクロード」計画も検討されています。 ゼットランドは上海にオフィスを構え中国におけるビジネス支援を行っております。ご相談はintray@zetland.bizまで。