Shanghai FTZ expands by adding Lingang area

The Lingang expansion of the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ) was officially unveiled on Tuesday.

As a major strategic decision made by the Communist Party of China Central Committee to further opening up, the addition of the Lingang area demonstrates China's clear stand to adhere to all-round opening up in the new era and an important measure taken to actively lead the healthy development of economic globalization, officials said.

Lingang, with a start-up area of 119.5 square kilometers, will facilitate overseas investment and capital flows and realize the free flow of goods, according to an overall plan for the new Lingang area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone issued by the State Council, or the cabinet.

The section will match the standard of the most competitive free trade zones worldwide and implement opening-up policies and systems with strong global market competitiveness, according to the plan.

Companies specializing in key industries, such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and civil aviation, will be granted a 15 percent business income tax for five years after their registration in the area. Under the country's tax system, the business income tax rate usually is 25 percent.

Lingang, which is in the farthest southeastern part of east Shanghai's Pudong New Area, has provided many manufacturing industry success stories since the municipal government started to build an industrial cluster in 2003. Tesla's gigafactory in Shanghai, which attracted over 50 billion yuan of investment, is also in the Lingang Special Area.

The inclusion of Lingang is the second expansion of the Shanghai FTZ, which was the first of its kind in China when it was launched in September 2013. The first expansion of the FTZ occurred in late 2014, when the 28-sq-km area grew to 120 sq km by including more parts of Pudong New Area.