It was Xi’s own father, Xi Zhongxun, who, as the Guangdong province’s first Communist Party secretary, played a central role in establishing the initial SEZs in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, and Xiamen .
On the contrary, to sustain progress, an updated approach to reform and opening up is essential. And Shenzhen – which has performed the best among the first cohort of SEZs – is the ideal place to test that approach. Far from implying that China is “turning inward,” as many have claimed, that strategy promises to improve the balance between openness to global opportunities and reliance on domestic production, distribution, and consumption.THE EXPERIMENTATION PROCESS
Four days after Xi’s Shenzhen speech, the National Development and Reform Commission announced 40 areas where increased autonomy would be delegated to Shenzhen, in order to facilitate the pilot reforms in market development and economic integration. This approach significantly reduces the barriers to complex systemic reform, supporting a process that is smooth and efficient, but also sequential and incremental.