On September 27, Beijing held a special session on its “two zones” initiative as part of the thematic press conferences titled “Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China”. During the event, Piao Xuedong, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director-General of Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, stated that since the launch of the “two zones” initiative, Beijing has implemented nearly 60 nationally groundbreaking policies, and over 40 of the city’s pioneering practices have been replicated across the country. In the evaluations of national comprehensive demonstration zone for greater openness in the service sector, Beijing consistently ranked first, effectively serving as a testing ground for institutional innovation.
According to Piao, since the launch of the “two zones” initiative, Beijing has steadily expanded its institutional opening-up, with explorations fully demonstrating its commitment to opening-up. With the first batch of 251 tasks approved by the State Council largely implemented, Beijing has introduced version 2.0 of its plan to build the national comprehensive demonstration zone for expanding opening-up in the service sector, further upgrading and integrating institutional innovation.
To optimize the open innovation ecosystem, Beijing has pioneered policies such as “approval upon registration” for high-tech enterprises, income tax breaks for venture capital firms, and preferential tax rates for technology transfers, aiming to reduce costs and increase efficiency for businesses. The city became the first in China to pilot share transfer of equity investment and venture capital investment, and to launch a comprehensive service pilot program for stock option. Beijing has also established the country’s first venture capital fund for stock option strategy, and initiated a pilot program for equity investment by financial asset investment companies, strengthening support for technological innovation. The city also fully supports the establishment of foreign-invested R&D centers, having approved a total of 149 such centers, including one for Schneider.
To accelerate the opening-up of the service sector, Beijing has enhanced its financial openness with the launch of a number of landmark financial institutions, including the country’s first wholly foreign-owned currency brokerage and a newly established wholly foreign-owned securities firm, which positions the city as a pacesetter in financial opening-up. Beijing has also been exploring the establishment of a green financial system aligned with international standards, and launched a national trading platform for China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER). The city has led the country in implementing the Pilot Project of Regulation on FinTech Innovation, ranking among the top nationwide in terms of the number of innovative projects, the diversity of participating institutions, and the breadth of application scenarios.
Furthermore, Beijing provides robust support for the development of the Beijing Stock Exchange, aiming to establish it as a major platform for serving innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. Over 90% of the more than 250 companies listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange are high-tech enterprises, with a total market value exceeding 290 billion yuan. We have continuously implemented and deepened pilot policies, such as facilitating cross-border financing and introducing a cash-pooling service for multinational companies that integrates domestic and foreign currency management, to facilitate efficient cross-border capital flows.
To deepen reform and opening-up in key areas, Beijing has taken the lead in China by launching pilot programs to expand opening-up in sectors such as value-added telecom services and healthcare. These include pioneering measures such as shortening the timelines for reviewing supplementary drug applications and approving clinical drug trials, and releasing a work plan to facilitate the temporary import of medical devices urgently needed for clinical use. Additionally, Beijing has released the first Catalogue of Recognized International Professional Qualifications, achieving a breakthrough from unilateral recognition to mutual acknowledgment.
As to how the city strengthens the basic systems for the digital economy, Beijing is building the country’s first pilot zone for developing basic data systems with high standards, which covers five areas, including E-Town. To facilitate and regulate cross-border data flows, Beijing has released the country’s first negative list tailored to specific scenarios and fields related to data flows in the Pilot Free Trade Zone, initially applied to five sectors such as automobiles and medicine. The city has also rolled out measures to facilitate cross-border data flows and established a green channel for foreign-invested enterprises to apply for security assessments for the export of important data, slashing the application and approval time by approximately 50%. Additionally, Beijing has explored rules and regulations for emerging business formats and launched China’s first cross-border electronic contract-signing platform, providing reliable electronic contract-signing services for cross-border businesses.
