CHINA launched three new free trade zones (FTZs) yesterday in Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian as the country seeks to draw more international commerce.

    The new zones were established 18 months after the first FTZ was unveiled in the financial hub Shanghai, which was designed to help streamline the overloaded administrative approval system and encourage innovation.

    Officials expect the new FTZs in Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian will boost economic reform, promote trade and facilitate investment in new areas as the world’s second-largest economy moves away from an unsustainable export-dependent model.

    The Guangdong FTZ, consisting of three new areas — Shenzhen’s Qianhai, Zhuhai’s Hengqin and Guangzhou’s Nansha — aims to speed economic integration with neighboring Hong Kong and Macao. It will allow Hong Kong and Macao companies to issue yuan-denominated bonds in the mainland and explore ways for firms in the zone to sell yuan-denominated shares in Hong Kong.

    The Fujian zone is focused on Taiwan and aims to become a cooperation platform for the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

    Companies and individuals in the Fujian zone will be permitted to invest overseas directly “using their own financial assets,” it added.

    The Tianjin FTZ is part of a push to better integrate the city with nearby Beijing and Hebei Province, it said.

    A “negative list” approach, which specifies investment sectors off-limits to foreign investors, will be trialed in the pilot FTZs, according to a State Council statement released yesterday.

    Under the “negative list,” FTZ foreign investments will be prohibited in sectors such as certain non-ferrous metal mining, air traffic control system management, postal enterprises and production of radio and television programs.

    Foreign investments are restricted to joint ventures with domestic companies in sectors such as oil and natural gas exploration and development, general-purpose airplane design, manufacture and maintenance as well as rare earth smelting, according to the list.

    Also yesterday, the Ministry of Commerce released an outline for managing foreign investments in the FTZs.

    The outline includes 20 detailed rules that determine where and how foreign companies can file their information to join the FTZs, as well as supervision measures.

    Foreign enterprises are no longer required to put their contracts or constitution on government record as a prerequisite to set up or change their registration. All foreign investors in the FTZs are obliged to submit annual reports to help with management of the zones.

    The plan also introduced more detailed supervision and inspection rules for foreign enterprises, clarifying who will be responsible for inspection, what methods they will use and what contents can be inspected, as well as penalty measures.(SD-Xinhua)