Guangxi is advancing high-standard reform and opening-up through the development of its free trade zone.

Guangxi is advancing high-standard reform and opening-up through the development of its free trade zone.

When one does good deeds, all endeavors prosper; when one plans wisely, opportunities will surely arise. The State Council has approved the Overall Plan for the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Across the land of Bagui, jubilation is everywhere, as the sons and daughters of the Zhuang region express their joy in myriad ways.

Opening-up brings new opportunities, and cooperation fosters new development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that accelerating the implementation of the free trade zone strategy is an objective necessity in response to the new trends of economic globalization, an inevitable choice for comprehensively deepening reform and building a new open‑economy system, and an important means for China to proactively manage its external relations and achieve its foreign‑policy objectives. The establishment of the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone (hereinafter referred to as the FTZ) is a major decision made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council; it constitutes a strategic initiative for advancing Guangxi’s reform and opening-up in the new era, and also represents Guangxi’s solemn mission to proactively serve and integrate into the nation’s major strategies and to better support the overall layout of China’s opening-up.

Guangxi, with its coastal, border‑adjacent, and riverine locations, is the only province‑level region in China that shares both land borders and maritime access with ASEAN countries, enjoying an unparalleled geographical advantage. General Secretary Xi Jinping has entrusted Guangxi with a new mission—its “three major strategic positions”—and explicitly stated: “The potential for Guangxi’s development lies in opening up, and so does its long-term momentum; it is well positioned to play an even greater role in the Belt and Road Initiative.” This reflects General Secretary Xi Jinping’s far-sighted vision and earnest expectations for Guangxi’s development, grounded in the global trend of growth and the broader national development agenda. To effectively implement this new mission of the “three major strategic positions,” the most fundamental step is to further elevate the level of opening up and strive to advance the overarching strategy of open development.

Since the end of last year, the state has successively issued the “Overall Plan for Building Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region into a Financial Openness Hub Facing ASEAN” and the “Overall Plan for the New Western Land-Sea Corridor.” Now, it has also approved the establishment of a free trade pilot zone in our region, which fully demonstrates the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core attaching great importance to Guangxi’s work and placing high hopes on its open development. This also signifies that Guangxi has entered a new wave of opening-up, marking a milestone in the province’s reform and opening-up process.

Building the pilot free trade zone is a grand strategic undertaking that requires not only careful planning of individual moves but also a keen grasp of the broader strategic landscape. We must seize this historic opportunity, heed General Secretary Xi Jinping’s call to “dare to pioneer, dare to experiment, and pursue independent reform,” further emancipate our minds, deepen reform and innovation, forge ahead with determination, and boldly break new ground. We will fully implement the central government’s directives to establish a new strategic pivot for open development in the Southwest and Central‑South regions, leverage Guangxi’s unique geographical advantages as a land‑and‑sea neighbor to ASEAN countries, and vigorously develop the Southwest, Central‑South, and Northwest’s gateway to the sea, as well as an international land‑sea trade corridor oriented toward ASEAN. In doing so, we will accelerate the establishment of a vital hub that seamlessly connects the 21st‑Century Maritime Silk Road with the Silk Road Economic Belt, and strive to build a new, all‑round pattern of open development characterized by “southward orientation, northward connectivity, eastward integration, and westward cooperation.”

“Opportunities are as elusive as the gods—hard to come by, easy to lose.” We must adhere to a dual‑pronged approach of both attracting investment from abroad and going global, with institutional innovation at its core and replicability and scalability as fundamental criteria. By benchmarking against international best practices, we will pioneer pilot initiatives and boldly innovate in areas such as cross‑border trade, logistics, finance, e‑commerce, tourism, labor cooperation, and trade facilitation. We will accelerate the refinement of our foreign investment systems and policies, generate more groundbreaking institutional innovations, and further enhance the role of free trade zones in boosting trade and investment. In doing so, we will drive transformative changes in the quality, efficiency, and growth drivers of our economy, striving to build free trade zones that offer convenient trade and investment, comprehensive financial services, secure and efficient regulation, strong spillover effects, and leading positions in China–ASEAN open cooperation—high‑standard, high‑quality free trade parks that inject new momentum, vitality, and opportunities into our region’s development, and contribute wisdom and strength to the new era of China’s reform and opening‑up.