China will further open its markets to the outside world by setting up free trade zones and launching investment agreement negotiations with its trade partners, according to a statement issued after the annual Central Economic Work Conference.
The closed-door meeting, which was held from December 10 to 13 in the capital, brought together the country's top policymakers to review the previous year's economic conditions and set out a roadmap for the following year's development.
In some ways, the meeting can be seen as picking up where the third full meeting of the Communist Party's 18th Central Committee left off, trying to flesh out broad plans with finer details.
At the conference this year, policymakers indicated that opening up the economy would continue. Also, for the first time leaders said they wanted to take measures to help exports.
Exports have experienced a significant slowdown since the onset of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. In the past, exports grew at 30 percent per year, but recently that has slowed to 10 percent. Although the country's exports continue expanding as a portion of the global total, they are facing challenges due to rising labor and material costs and stronger competition from Southeast Asia and Latin America.
The conference this year pledged to "accelerate negotiations on free trade zones" and for the first time mentioned "steadily pushing forward with negotiations on investment agreements." These statements indicated the country wants better engagement in bilateral and regional trade and business cooperation.
China has signed 12 free trade agreements and another six are in talks, including ones with South Korea, Australia and Norway. Negotiations with Australia are expected to be completed next year.
The talks between China and South Korea have entered the stage of price bargaining, while trade talks between China, Japan and South Korea are in their third round where the focus is on the model of tax reductions and scope.
In May, negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between China, Association of Southeast Asian Nation members and several other countries were launched. The talks are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015.
China is also trying to promote stronger investment partnerships with the United States and Europe. With the launch of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, some experiments in foreign investment management are expected to be adopted in future partnerships.
In both the economic work conference report and a document issued after the party meeting in November, policymakers said they wanted to "promote a new maritime Silk Road." This is an indication the government intends to enhance links between the Pacific Ocean and the Baltic Sea, the body of water between northern and central Europe.
