Reforms in FTZ set new global rules

China is taking its first step toward building a set of international trade and investment rules by allowing reforms in Shanghai's pilot free trade zone, a senior Shanghai government official said yesterday.

“China should change its role from a rule-taker to a rule-maker as the world's trade and investment are restructuring,” Wang Xinkui, director of the counselors' office of the city government, told an economic forum at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics yesterday.

Wang said allowing reforms in the FTZ helps lay a foundation for China to participate in setting new international rules.

The zone, set up on September 29, last year, was established when the focus of international trade negotiations has shifted to the ongoing regional Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks.