Resumen

HERNANDEZ RODRIGUEZ, Clemente. The reasons behind the establishment of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. Méx.cuenca pac [online]. 2016, vol.5, n.15, pp.71-96. ISSN 2007-5308.

This paper seeks to identify domestic and global forces, as the interaction between interests and institutions behind the establishment of the China Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (SHFTZ). Chinese central Government launched the Shanghai free trade zone Program on September 29, 2013 trying to diminish administrative interventions, ease restrictions on investments, further open up its financial system, and internationalize the Renminbi (yuan) to booster mainly shipping, logistics, and commerce. To analyze the reasons for the establishment of the free trade zone of Shanghai, I use a synthetic approach of the international political economy (IPE) based on the second image reversed. First, I present some thoughts about the establishment of the Shanghai free trade zone coming from qualitative data in an ipe framework. The results give evidence that the SHFTZ is an important step for China's new leadership searching for greater economic liberalization and management innovation. The Shanghai free zone is just the beginning of a new wave of reforms, restructuring China's economy. Furthermore, this new direction and focus of China's economic initiatives regarding free trade seems to be a response to global pressures such as the regional free trade agreements that United States has recently negotiated.

Palabras llave : Shanghai Free Trade Zone (SHFTZ); international political economy; China; reform; financial liberalization; partnerships.