Beijing's "Two Zones" construction clarifies over 160 tasks; "New Measures" expand the "New Flow" of opening up to the outside world

(Covering) News Agency reported from Beijing on March 30 (Reporter Lü Shaowei) The reporter learned today from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce that the “Two Zones” Office of Beijing (“Office of the Work Leading Group of the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the National Service Industry Expansion Openness Comprehensive Demonstration Zone”) has recently issued the “2026 Work Priorities for the ‘Two Zones’ Construction” (hereinafter referred to as the “Work Priorities”). It makes arrangements for the “Two Zones” construction work in 2026, specifies five aspects and more than 160 tasks, and simultaneously issues lists such as priority tasks, priority policy measures, and priority projects, thereby delivering a mission letter and timeline for the “Two Zones” construction work in 2026. Four keywords are worth looking forward to.

Keyword 1: Opening up at the institutional level.

The “Work Priorities” proposes “to uphold institutional innovation as the key core, and lead the opening-up and development of the service sector with high-level institutional opening-up,” and clarifies that in 2026, Beijing will compile and roll out the “14th Five-Year Plan (15th Five-Year Plan) period” high-level open economy development plan; promote the rollout and implementation of the 3.0 plan for the comprehensive demonstration zone for expanding opening-up in the service sector; closely implement the “China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone Enhancement Strategic Action Plan”; actively strive to become a national demonstration for innovative development of service trade and a national digital trade demonstration zone; and promote the establishment of a linked development area for the pilot free trade zones.

Expanding opening-up in the service sector is a key link in China’s opening-up to the outside world and also the distinctive hallmark of Beijing’s openness. As the only national comprehensive demonstration zone for expanding opening-up in the service industry, Beijing has, to date, cumulatively implemented nearly 300 demonstration zone construction tasks across two rounds that were approved by the State Council. Centering on advancing reforms and opening-up in key service-sector areas, exploring rules and regulations for emerging business models, and optimizing trade and investment institutional arrangements, Beijing has carried out a series of pioneering explorations. In evaluations of previous national comprehensive pilot demonstrations for expanding opening-up in the service sector, it has ranked first. This has contributed “Beijing’s practice” toward building a high-standard institutional framework for opening-up in the service sector.

“New initiatives” continue to transform into “new added value,” and to expand “new streams of traffic.” In 2025, Beijing newly established more than 2,400 foreign-invested enterprises; services exports increased year-on-year by 11%, both reaching historic highs. This has laid a solid foundation for further deepening opening-up in the service sector and promoting innovative development of service trade. As an important platform for high-level opening-up, the Beijing pilot free trade zone has been the first batch nationwide to carry out pilot projects to connect with international high-standard efforts to advance institutional opening-up, and its exemplary and leading role has been continuously strengthened. The share of actual utilized foreign capital in the city has risen from less than 10% at the time of establishment to over 50% in 2025.

Next, Beijing will implement the pilot free trade zone enhancement strategy at a high standard, and by establishing linked development areas for pilot free trade zones, better play the role of industrial connectivity and factor connectivity inside and outside the “zone” (pilot free trade zone). In a broader scope, it will explore integrated innovation along key industrial chains, and amplify the dividend from the pilot free trade zones.

Keyword 2: Dual engines driving growth.

The “Work Priorities” proposes “to uphold the dual-engine drive of ‘industry + factors,’ and empower high-quality development of the capital’s economy through open innovation,” and clarifies that in 2026, Beijing will advance in depth pilot projects to expand opening-up in areas such as value-added telecommunications and medical services; deepen pilot projects for innovation in trust property registration models; and improve the level of coordinated opening-up for key industries. It will study and formulate a data cross-border flow facilitation reform plan 3.0, issue a second batch of negative lists for data leaving the country, iterate and upgrade the international professional qualification recognition catalog, and continuously enhance the benefits of factor coordination.

Beijing seizes the opportunities of the “Two Zones” construction and continues to lead in expanding opening-up in the service sector. As a city (province) in the first batch nationwide to carry out pilot projects for expanding opening-up in areas such as value-added telecommunications and medical services, it already has more than 60 enterprises participating in the pilots, including many internationally well-known companies such as De Xindian China and Cummins China. The development of opening-up in the service sector cannot be separated from support and guarantees from factors such as talent, data, and capital. Previously, Beijing rolled out the nation’s first scenario-based, field-level pilot free trade zone negative list for data leaving the country and issued the first comprehensive reform document on data cross-border flow; the diversity and pass rates of data leaving the country are both among the top in the country. Next, Beijing will focus on key areas such as medical devices, autonomous driving (intelligent connected vehicles), trade logistics, and banks, promptly roll out a second batch of negative lists for data leaving the country, and promote the applicability of the lists across the city.

Keyword 3: Coordination among three zones.

The “Work Priorities” proposes “to uphold coordination among three zones: ‘pilot free trade zones + comprehensive bonded zones + characteristic industrial parks,’ and to strengthen and optimize high-level foreign opening-up platform hubs,” and clarifies that in 2026, Beijing will highlight the opening-up and leading role of pilot free trade zones. It will further build five pilot free trade brands: “innovation, digital intelligence, green, convenient, and coordinated.” It will clarify tasks including exploring and building a global “go global” service trading platform for innovative drugs; promoting construction of basic infrastructure such as international (offshore) data centers; establishing and improving a system for green cost analysis and green price certification; optimizing the one-stop service functions of the airport service points for “Beijing services”; and implementing tasks such as the “Action Plan for Whole-Industry-Chain Coordinated Innovation among the Pilot Free Trade Zones in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.”

At the same time, Beijing will accelerate improvements to the functions of comprehensive bonded zones. The Tianzhu comprehensive bonded zone will deepen the construction of an early-safeguarding area for guaranteed access to drugs for rare diseases; the Xingang comprehensive bonded zone at the airport in Daxing District will continuously improve the operating efficiency of the zone-port liaison and communication channel; the Zhongguancun comprehensive bonded zone will explore an enterprise incubation model that combines technology-based property services with investment funds; and the Yizhuang comprehensive bonded zone will guide major projects such as integrated circuits and biotech/biopharmaceuticals to enter the zone, and build a high-end clustering area for bonded processing. It will support and guide all kinds of characteristic industrial parks—such as those focused on technology, advanced manufacturing, finance, consumer culture and tourism, and policy functions—to improve quality and efficiency. As an important set of levers for the “Two Zones” construction, pilot free trade zones, comprehensive bonded zones, and characteristic parks shoulder an important mission: centering on their functional positioning, carrying out differentiated exploration and characteristic practices. This is crucial for accumulating experience for expanding high-level opening-up and for gathering momentum for high-quality development.

Earlier, the “three zones” relied on their resource endowments, taking the initiative to innovate and practice boldly. Through institutional innovation to remove bottlenecks and foster functions, they have formed a batch of pioneering practices, such as: Beijing Tianzhu comprehensive bonded zone building the country’s first early safeguarding area for guaranteed access to drugs for rare diseases. By further optimizing safeguarding mechanisms for clinically urgently needed drugs for rare diseases—such as in shortening timeframes, ensuring quantity, and enabling whole-process traceability—Beijing has promoted the shift from “patients waiting for drugs” to “drugs waiting for patients.” In 2025, imports of drugs for rare diseases into the Tianzhu comprehensive bonded zone exceeded 27 billion yuan, ranking first in the country by scale.

Keyword 4: Balancing “bringing in” with “going global.”

The “Work Priorities” proposes “to uphold a project-landing results orientation and achieve coordinated implementation of high-quality ‘bringing in’ and high-level ‘going global.’” It clarifies that in 2026, Beijing will attract more new foreign-invested entities to land their projects, expand globally service-partner enterprises, encourage foreign-invested enterprises to reinvest their profits, and focus on shaping new advantages in attracting foreign capital. It will also improve exhibition and conference integrated services, develop investment promotion activities such as high-quality hosting of the “Invest Beijing” conference, and systematically enhance the internationalization level of investment promotion, by centering on investment promotion for innovative industrial chains, scenarios, and carriers in industries such as artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals.

In 2026, Beijing will further build the National Import Trade Promotion Innovation Demonstration Zone to a high quality standard, and actively promote upgrades and optimization of goods trade. It will promote the digital transformation of service outsourcing to enhance competitiveness in productive services trade, and advance innovative development of service trade. It will deepen construction of the Beijing overseas comprehensive service platform and the Beijing co-built “Belt and Road” direct connection comprehensive service platform, and strive to become the preferred national choice for comprehensive overseas expansion services. It will build the “China Data Street” to a high standard, accelerate construction of the Beijing International Legal and Business Fusion Demonstration Zone, and promote the construction of a headquarters cluster for international scientific and technological organizations, thereby expanding the influence of open-innovation platforms.

In 2025, Beijing made a new breakthrough in stabilizing foreign trade. Goods exports grew by 3.8%, reaching a historic high; two-way investment opened up a new situation; newly established foreign-invested enterprises increased by 19.5% year-on-year; and international economic cooperation developed steadily. In 2026, Beijing will further intensify and improve the implementation of relevant measures, promote stable foreign trade by maintaining scale while optimizing structure, expand two-way investment cooperation, and better promote reform and development through opening up. (End)

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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