Macro Market | New Offshore Trade: The Off-Balance-Sheet Territory of the Trade Center

New Offshore Trade: Policies and Practices

In the 2025 Government Work Report, it was proposed for the first time to "support qualified regions in developing new offshore trade," elevating new offshore trade to the level of key national policy support. Promoting the development of new offshore trade is necessary to adapt to the current changes in international trade trends, to enhance trade convenience, reduce or avoid trade frictions, and is an important direction for cultivating new models and new drivers of foreign trade.

New offshore trade refers to trade that occurs between Chinese residents and non - residents, where the goods involved in the transaction do not enter or leave China's first - line customs territory or are not included in China's customs statistics. Compared with traditional offshore trade, it shows significant characteristics of "both ends outside" and "separation of three flows." The "newness" of new offshore trade is mainly reflected in: new transaction models, new technological means, and new regulatory methods. Currently, the main models of new offshore trade include offshore goods resale, global procurement, entrusted overseas processing, and overseas purchase of goods for contracted projects.

From the perspective of policy evolution, China's new offshore trade policy has gone through a process from local pilot projects to full - scale promotion. The exploration and development period provided the first institutionalized pilot space for the development of offshore trade; the rapid development period officially established the policy framework for new offshore trade; the in - depth development period supports qualified regions in developing new offshore trade and expands the pilot areas for exemption from stamp duty. Under the national policy framework, local governments, relying on open platforms such as free trade pilot zones and comprehensive bonded areas, have successively issued a number of opinions and measures to promote the development of new offshore trade, providing strong policy support for its development.

Looking at the development of pilot cities, since 2020, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has carried out pilot projects to support the development of new offshore trade in regions such as Shanghai, Hainan, Jiangsu, and Fujian. The pilot regions have initially achieved scale and results in terms of offshore trade volume and the promotion of key industries, but there is still a large development gap compared with major international offshore trade centers. From the perspective of innovative measures in typical cases, domestic pilot cities have strengthened risk management and control by establishing a "white list" of offshore economic and trade enterprises; optimized authenticity verification by empowering the new offshore trade comprehensive service platform with technology; attracted high - quality enterprises and talents with preferential tax policies; and explored innovation in offshore finance models to create a full - chain financial service ecosystem. Internationally representative regions have attracted headquarters to settle in by exploring regulatory sandboxes; improved the efficiency of bill of lading circulation by building a convenient trade network with digital platforms; and built a diversified professional service ecosystem to strengthen the guarantee system for new offshore trade.

In the future, China can accelerate the development of new offshore trade in the following aspects: First, consolidate and develop the existing achievements of offshore trade pilot projects and promote them to non - pilot regions in a timely manner; second, build a national big - data verification platform and establish an information sharing and verification mechanism for offshore trade; third, actively promote institutional opening - up and enhance China's voice in formulating international rules for offshore trade; fourth, innovate and develop offshore trade financial products and improve the guarantee system for new offshore trade.

Against the backdrop of the profound adjustment of the global industrial chain pattern and China's acceleration in building a new development pattern of "dual circulation," more and more domestic enterprises are going global for globalization. This development trend has stimulated the large - scale growth of offshore trade. In the 2025 Government Work Report, it was proposed for the first time to "support qualified regions in developing new offshore trade." Promoting the development of new offshore trade is necessary to adapt to the current changes in international trade trends, to enhance trade convenience, reduce or avoid trade barriers, and is an important direction for cultivating new models and new drivers of foreign trade.

I. What is New Offshore Trade

1.1 Definition

In December 2021, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued the "Notice on Issues Concerning Supporting the Development of New Offshore International Trade" (Yin Fa [2021] No. 329), which for the first time clearly defined the concept of "new offshore international trade": New offshore international trade refers to trade that occurs between Chinese residents and non - residents, where the goods involved in the transaction do not enter or leave China's first - line customs territory or are not included in China's customs statistics, including but not limited to offshore goods resale, global procurement, entrusted overseas processing, and overseas purchase of goods for contracted projects.

Compared with traditional offshore trade, new offshore trade occurs between residents and non - residents, and the goods do not enter or leave the country, and the trade is not included in customs statistics. Specifically, the origin and final consumption destinations of the goods involved in the transaction are both overseas, and the goods do not enter or leave the customs territory of the location where the trade intermediary operates, that is, the goods do not need to go through Chinese customs, showing the significant characteristic of "both ends outside" (Ding Guoning and Dong Chenghui, 2025). From the perspective of business processes, new offshore trade has achieved "separation of three flows": separation of order flow, goods flow, and capital flow. It is worth noting that all trade - related fund settlements, foreign exchange flows, information processing, and various professional services occur at the location of the intermediary. This model can flexibly allocate global resources, enhancing the resilience and stability of the supply chain.

1.2 Characteristics

The "newness" of new offshore trade is mainly reflected in: First, new transaction models. Relying on free trade pilot zones to establish local offshore companies, new transaction models have emerged, including offshore goods resale, global procurement, overseas entrusted processing, cross - border information services, cross - border logistics services, overseas warehousing services, and overseas purchase of goods for contracted projects [1].

Second, new technological means. Relying on digital technology, through technological means such as platforms, e - commerce, cross - border logistics, and offshore services, business model innovation and expansion have been achieved, showing a digital and service - oriented development trend. It has reduced transaction costs, improved the efficiency of cross - border resource allocation, attracted the aggregation of high - end elements, formed regional trade brands, and enhanced the initiative in international trade [2].

Third, new regulatory methods. Relying on a digital regulatory platform, modern technology is used to supervise the authenticity of offshore trade business. Through technological means such as big data and blockchain, real - time monitoring and risk early - warning of the entire trade process are realized, improving the efficiency and accuracy of supervision, and also providing a more convenient trade environment for enterprises.

The development of new offshore trade has far - reaching strategic significance for China's economic development. At the enterprise level, it provides an efficient platform for domestic enterprises to carry out intermediate goods trade and global procurement, helps enterprises break through traditional trade bottlenecks, flexibly avoid tariff barriers, and deeply integrate into the global industrial chain division of labor, achieving the optimization and upgrading of the regional value chain. At the national level, this model promotes the transformation of China's trade pattern from "buy from China, sell to the world" to "buy from the world, sell to the world," significantly enhancing China's overall planning and allocation ability of global trade resources and injecting strong impetus into building a trade - powerful country.

1.3 Models

New offshore trade achieves win - win trade through various models. Currently, there are mainly the following four models of new offshore trade:

First, offshore goods resale. Offshore goods resale refers to a transaction model in which a Chinese resident enterprise purchases goods from a non - resident enterprise and then resells the same goods to another non - resident enterprise, but the goods do not actually enter or leave China's customs territory. This model takes advantage of information asymmetry to earn the price difference of goods. The goods transportation and delivery are all carried out overseas, and the fund settlement is completed in China (Ding Guoning and Dong Chenghui, 2025).

Second, global procurement. Global procurement refers to the global procurement and sales activities derived from multinational companies assuming the functions of regional headquarters, sales centers, procurement centers, settlement centers and other functional institutions, or manufacturing enterprises based on the needs of production, manufacturing, and sales support (Zhang Bin et al., 2024). This model mainly adopts the method of centralized procurement, searching for high - quality raw materials or components globally for internal use within the group or resale to third - party markets (Ding Guoning and Dong Chenghui, 2025), improving the ability to allocate cross - border resources.

Third, entrusted overseas processing. Entrusted overseas processing refers to domestic enterprises entrusting overseas enterprises to process and manufacture products. The raw materials are provided by domestic or overseas sources, and the finished products are directly transported from the processing site to overseas end - buyers. It includes sub - models such as processing with supplied materials and offshore processing. This model is suitable for transferring labor - intensive industries to countries or regions with lower production costs, achieving the optimal allocation of resources and the upgrading of the value chain (Ding Guoning and Dong Chenghui, 2025).

Fourth, overseas purchase of goods for contracted projects. Overseas purchase of goods for contracted projects refers to domestic enterprises undertaking overseas construction projects directly purchasing equipment, materials and other goods overseas (in the project - hosting country or a third country) and transporting them to the project site for use. The payment for the goods is made by the domestic enterprise (Pan Huajian et al., 2024).

1.4 Potential Space

As major global offshore trade centers, Singapore and Hong Kong, China have built a highly competitive offshore trade ecosystem with their free - port policies, mature financial systems, and international service networks. In 2023, the ratio of Singapore's offshore trade settlement volume to its total import and export trade volume was approximately 1:1.1 [3]. In 2022, the total value of Hong Kong, China's offshore trade was 683.7 billion US dollars, and the ratio to its total value of external goods trade was approximately 1:1.8.

In contrast, in 2024, the scale of offshore trade in Shanghai Pudong reached 90 billion US dollars, and the ratio to its total import and export trade volume was approximately 1:4.0. In 2024, the offshore trade settlement volume in Yangpu, Hainan reached 11.95 billion US dollars. Although the ratio to its total import and export trade volume reached 1:1.5, the absolute scale of offshore trade was less than 1/50 of that of Hong Kong, China.

This huge gap reveals the great potential for China to develop new offshore trade. With the deepening of policy innovation in free trade pilot zones, the solution of the bottleneck in cross - border data verification, and the strengthening of offshore finance support, China is expected to promote the development of new offshore trade from the current partial breakthrough to systematic improvement, increase its share in the global offshore trade pattern, and form an offshore trade ecosystem with Chinese characteristics.

II. Policy Evolution of New Offshore Trade

2.1 National Policy Evolution

The development of China's new offshore trade has gone through a process from local pilot projects to full - scale promotion.

Exploration and Development Period: In 2010, with the approval of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the former Shanghai Comprehensive Bonded Area launched the "Pilot Project for a New - type International Trade Settlement Center" as a national pilot area, allowing pilot enterprises to set up special accounts for offshore trade to solve the policy bottleneck of foreign exchange payment in the transactions of offshore economic and trade enterprises. In 2013, Shanghai implemented the "Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Construction of an International Trade Center," clearly stating to "promote the development of entrepot trade and offshore trade." In September 2013, the State Council approved the "Overall Plan for the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone," proposing for the first time to "support enterprises in the pilot zone to develop offshore business" and "actively study and improve the tax policies suitable for overseas equity investment and the development of offshore business," breaking through traditional trade restrictions through the regulatory model of "opening up the first - line and effectively controlling the second - line." This policy breakthrough provided the first institutionalized pilot space for the development of offshore trade.

Fast - paced Development Period: In April 2015, the State Council issued the "Notice of the State Council on Printing and Distributing the Plan for Further Deepening the Reform and Opening - up of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone," and then approved the "Overall Plan for the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone," the "Overall Plan for the China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone," and the "Overall Plan for the China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone." On the basis of Shanghai, free trade pilot zones were further established in Guangdong, Tianjin, and Fujian, and China's offshore trade development entered a new stage of rapid development.

In July 2021, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Forms and Models of Foreign Trade," listing "steadily promoting the development of offshore trade" as one of the four tasks for "deeply promoting the development of foreign trade services in professional and segmented fields." In December of the same year, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued the "Notice on Issues Concerning Supporting the Development of New Offshore International Trade" (Yin Fa [2021] No. 329), clearly defining the concept of "new offshore international trade" for the first time and proposing to "encourage banks to optimize financial services and provide cross - border fund settlement convenience for honest and law - abiding enterprises to carry out real and compliant new offshore international trade." Since then, the policy framework for new offshore trade has been officially established.

In - depth Development Period: To further reduce enterprise costs, the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration issued the "Notice on Pilot Preferential Policies for Stamp Duty on Offshore Trade in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Lin - gang New Area" in February 2024, piloting a one - year exemption from stamp duty on offshore goods resale in the Shanghai Free Trade Pilot Zone for the first time. This was China's first preferential tax policy for offshore trade. In July 2024, the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reforms to Promote Chinese - style Modernization" adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee emphasized the need to accelerate the development of offshore trade and develop new offshore international trade business. In March 2025, the Government Work Report proposed to "cultivate new growth points such as green trade and digital trade and support qualified regions in developing new offshore trade." The Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration simultaneously issued the "Notice on Continuing to Implement Preferential Policies for Stamp Duty on Offshore Trade," expanding the scope of stamp - duty exemption to seven regions including the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone. China's new offshore trade has entered a stage of comprehensive in - depth development.

2.2 Local Policy Evolution

Under the national policy framework (such as Document No. 329 of the central bank), local governments, relying on open platforms such as free trade pilot zones and comprehensive bonded areas, have explored the development of new offshore trade. In 2020, to promote the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port and facilitate trade liberalization, the Hainan Branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued the "Notice on Supporting Hainan in Carrying out Foreign Exchange Management for New Offshore International Trade." Subsequently, to meet the requirements of building a regional new offshore international trade center, Hainan Province issued the "Work Measures on Supporting Yangpu Bonded Port Area in Developing New Offshore International Trade," making arrangements in terms of regulatory measures, enterprise taxation, supporting financial services, and banks' business - development capabilities.

In March 2021, under the guidance of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the foreign exchange management department of Jiangsu Province issued the "Notice on Supporting the Development of New Offshore International Trade in Suzhou Industrial Park." The park became the second region in the country after the Hainan Free Trade Port to receive support from the foreign exchange management department for the development of new offshore international trade. The "Detailed Rules for the Implementation of Guiding Funds for Promoting the High - quality Development of New Offshore International Trade in Suzhou Industrial Park," issued in 2021 and implemented in 2023, provides support and incentives from multiple perspectives and in all aspects for enterprises, banks, and outstanding talents engaged in new offshore international trade business.

In June 2021, the General Affairs Department of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange officially issued the "Approval of the General Affairs Department of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Supporting Xiamen in Developing New Offshore International Trade," providing fundamental guidance and development opportunities for Xiamen to carry out pilot projects on new offshore international trade business. Subsequently, the Xiamen Branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued the "Notice on Supporting the Development of New Offshore International Trade in Xiamen." After Hainan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Ningbo, Xiamen has become one of the five provinces (or municipalities directly under the state planning) in the country to carry out pilot projects on new international offshore trade. In April 2025, the Xiamen Free Trade Area issued the "Ten Measures of Xiamen Free Trade Zone to Support the Accelerated Development of Offshore Trade," providing full - chain service support for enterprises in terms of financial facilitation, digital empowerment, talent guarantee, and regulatory coordination, and promoting the development of new offshore trade in the Xiamen Free Trade Area.

To implement the spirit of documents such as the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of New Forms and Models of Foreign Trade" and the "Notice of the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Issues Concerning Supporting the Development of New Offshore International Trade," Dalian, Beijing, and the Qingdao Area of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone have successively issued a number of opinions and measures to promote the development of new offshore international trade, providing strong policy support for its development.

III. Typical Practical Cases of New Offshore Trade

3.1 Development of Pilot Cities

Since 2020, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange has carried out pilot projects to support the development of new offshore international trade in Shanghai, Hainan, Jiangsu, Fujian and other regions. The pilot regions have initially achieved scale and results in terms of offshore trade settlement volume and the upgrading of key industries.

During the "14th Five - Year Plan" period, based on the core mission of open innovation, the Lin - gang New Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone has seen an average annual growth of 128.9% in the scale of offshore trade. In 2024, the scale of offshore trade in Shanghai Pudong reached 90 billion US dollars, a 75% increase, showing a strong growth trend.

In 2024, the scale of offshore goods resale in Hainan approached 20 billion US dollars, achieving a 7.5% growth. Since Yangpu started new offshore international trade business in 2020, it has shown good development momentum. The offshore trade settlement volume increased from 1.135 billion US dollars in 2020 to 12.2 billion US dollars in 2022, breaking through the 10 - billion - dollar mark for the first time. Despite the complex and volatile global trade environment, the settlement volume still reached 11.946 billion US dollars in 2024, and the development of new offshore trade remained stable.

The growth of Jiangsu's offshore trade volume has also been remarkable. In 2021, the Suzhou Free Trade Area became the second pilot area for new offshore international trade to receive special policy support from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange after the Hainan Free Trade Port. In 2024, the settlement scale of the park's offshore trade business increased to 1.77 billion US dollars, and the number of market entities expanded to 61.

Offshore trade in the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone has also achieved leap - forward development. In 2024, the offshore trade revenue and expenditure scale of the Qianhai Free Trade Zone exceeded 1.3 billion US dollars for the first time, a year - on - year increase of more than three times, accounting for more than 90% of the cross - border revenue and expenditure scale of Shenzhen's offshore trade. Among them, the International Trading Center for Electronic Components and Integrated Circuits, with its industrial big - data base and the innovative model of "user collective procurement, aggregated bidding, and self - service matching," has become the core hub of Shenzhen's offshore trade.

Through policy support, each pilot region has effectively promoted the cross - border resource integration and upgrading of key industries such as high - end manufacturing, international shipping, and commodity trade, achieving a simultaneous increase in the scale of new offshore trade and the effectiveness of industrial support, and providing substantial assistance for building an open - type economy.

3.2 Innovative Case Measures

3.2.1 Domestic Representative Innovative Cases

(1) Establishing a "White List" of Offshore Economic and Trade Enterprises to Strengthen Risk Management and Control

In March 2022, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued the "Several Policy Measures on Supporting the Hongqiao International Central Business District to Further Enhance Its Capabilities," supporting eligible enterprises in the Hongqiao International Central Business District to actively carry out offshore economic and trade business and further expanding the "white list" of offshore economic and trade enterprises. As of April 2025, a total of 636 enterprises have been included. Enterprises on the white list can carry out business such as offshore goods resale and offshore processing trade through the Free Trade Account (FT Account), and commercial banks provide cross - border financial service convenience in accordance with international common rules. In 2024, the settlement volume of offshore economic and trade business through FT accounts in the city reached 106.9 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 61.5%, and the policy - empowering effect continued to appear.

(2) Empowering the New Offshore Trade Comprehensive Service Platform with Technology to Optimize Authenticity Verification

In 2021, in response to the difficulty in regulating offshore trade business, the Shanghai Free Trade Pilot Zone innovatively launched the "Offshore Connect" platform, the first in the country to integrate overseas data to support trade authenticity verification. The platform, with the architecture of "one portal and five systems," integrates overseas customs declaration data, international shipping data, and port loading and unloading data, providing verification services for commercial banks on enterprises' offshore goods resale business. By 2024, the platform had accessed customs declaration information from 19 countries, covered more than 180 shipping companies, information on more than 21,000 container ports and terminals globally, and 50% of global air cargo information, providing strong support for Shanghai to improve its global resource allocation ability.

The Qingdao Area of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone has built the new offshore trade comprehensive service platform "Offshore Reach," which accesses international shipping, logistics, port, and customs data from major countries in the world. It uses blockchain and AI risk - control technology to achieve panoramic verification of trade data, building an authenticity verification system covering customs goods details from nearly 60 countries, 230,000 ship profiles, and data from 6,000 major ports. It has compressed the single - business verification time from 1 hour to 10 minutes. Since its launch in April 2022, it has assisted banks in completing more than 650 offshore trade transactions, with a verification amount of nearly 19 billion US dollars. In 2024, the international balance of payments for offshore goods resale was about 8.8 billion US dollars, accounting for more than 80% in Shandong Province. In 2024, it completed more than 200 offshore trade transaction verifications, with a verification amount of more than 8 billion US dollars, accounting for more than 90% of the offshore goods resale amount in the Qingdao Free Trade Area and more than 80% in the province.

(3) Attracting High - quality Enterprises and Talents with Preferential Tax Policies

Taking Hainan as an example, in terms of enterprise income tax, for encouraged industrial enterprises registered and actually operating in Hainan, the enterprise income tax is levied at a reduced rate of 15%, a 40% reduction compared with the national average tax rate (25%). This policy has attracted leading enterprises such as Sinochem Petroleum and Sinopec Hong Kong to set up offshore trade centers in Yangpu, promoting the offshore trade settlement volume in Yangpu to jump from 1.14 billion US dollars in 2020 to 11.95 billion US dollars in 2024, accounting for more than 80% of the provincial total. In terms of individual income tax, for high - end and urgently needed talents working in the Hainan Free Trade Port, the part of the individual income tax actually paid that exceeds 15% is exempted. This policy has significantly reduced the individual income tax burden on cross - border talents. As of the end of 2024, a total of 39,000 person - times in Hainan have enjoyed the preferential tax policy, and the talent density in the offshore trade field has increased by 23% year - on - year.

Taking Shanghai as an example, in terms of stamp duty, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Lin - gang New Area piloted the exemption policy for stamp duty on offshore goods resale in 2024. As of the end of 2024, more than 300 enterprises had carried out offshore goods resale business. The cumulative tax exemption exceeded 100 million yuan, significantly reducing enterprise transaction costs and continuously releasing policy dividends.

(4) Exploring Innovation in Offshore Finance Models to Build a Full - Chain Financial Service Ecosystem

On June 18, 2025, the People's Bank of China announced eight measures at the 2025 Lujiazui Forum to promote the construction of the offshore trade ecosystem with the core of optimizing financial services: Carry out a comprehensive reform pilot of offshore trade financial services in the Shanghai Lin - gang New Area and develop free - trade offshore bonds in Shanghai. This further strengthens the offshore trade settlement and fund allocation functions of the Shanghai International Financial Center. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange also announced at the forum that a package of foreign exchange innovation policies, including 10 facilitation policies such as optimizing new international trade settlement, will be implemented in free trade pilot zones to promote the upgrading of offshore trade financial services.

As one of the key parks in the Hainan Free Trade Port, the Haikou Jiangdong New Area in Hainan Province is committed to the agglomeration of new international offshore trade industries and focuses on building a comprehensive service platform for new offshore international trade. The park, in cooperation with banks such as Huaxia Bank, Industrial Bank, and China Construction Bank, has innovatively launched the "credit + offshore trade" model, built a government - bank - enterprise cooperation platform, established a mutual - recognition mechanism, clarified access standards, implemented dynamic management based on credit ratings, and continuously optimized the settlement process. It has effectively promoted the agglomeration of offshore trade enterprises and promoted a leap - forward growth in offshore trade volume. As of June 2024, there were 31 offshore trade enterprises in the Jiangdong New Area, with a cumulative offshore trade volume of 6 billion US dollars.

3.2.2 International Representative Innovative Cases

(1) Exploring Regulatory Sandboxes to Attract Headquarters to Settle In

Singapore implements a preferential tax rate of 10% for eligible enterprises through the Offshore Trade Incentive Scheme, and only taxes substantial economic activities generated locally in Singapore to avoid double taxation. At the same time, it innovates the regulatory sandbox mechanism, allowing enterprises to pilot innovative tools such as blockchain bills of lading and digital identity authentication, and adopts the "white list + graded exemption" model to promote cross - border data flow, reducing enterprise compliance costs and attracting global commodity giants such as Trafigura Group and Vitol Group to set up regional headquarters.

The Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai implements "zero income tax, narrow tax base, and 100% foreign - owned shares" and is equipped with the world's largest artificial port and an intelligent logistics center. By integrating trade, logistics, and financial services, it forms an integrated ecological structure of "order - financing - delivery," attracting global multinational enterprises to set up regional headquarters.

(2) Building a Convenient Trade Network with Digital Platforms to Improve the Efficiency of Bill of Lading Circulation

Hong Kong, China has launched a cross - border payment experiment with digital Hong Kong dollars and cooperated with the central banks of Thailand and the United Arab Emirates to build a multi - central - bank digital currency bridge, successfully achieving real - time cross - border fund settlement. Its electronic bill of lading platform has completed the construction of a mutual - recognition mechanism with ports in Singapore and Europe, significantly improving the circulation efficiency of international trade bills of lading through standardized data - exchange protocols and promoting the transformation of cross - border trade document processing to be intelligent and paperless.

The Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands has built an electronic information - exchange system and a national - level information service platform in the field of offshore services, realizing full - process networked collaboration of services such as customs, inspection and quarantine, taxation, and banking (Zhao Qingsong and Tian Guangxuan, 2025). The port uses the Internet of Things and digital twin technology to build a "port brain" system for real - time data collection and analysis, achieving accurate tracking of container dynamics.

(3) Building a Diversified Professional Service Ecosystem to Strengthen the Guarantee System for New Offshore Trade

Dubai has built a deep - level guarantee system for new offshore trade through a highly coordinated professional service ecosystem. Relying on the world's first digital asset law, the "Free Zone Company Law" of the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), and many well - known international banks and financial institutions, it provides diversified financial services and strong legal protection for new offshore trade enterprises. Switzerland, with Geneva and Zurich as core hubs, has gathered the world's top law firms, accounting firms, and private banks to provide customized tax planning and international arbitration services for new offshore trade. Japan has established a segregated offshore financial market (JOM), promoting the development of offshore trade through diversified financial services such as trade financing and risk management provided by financial institutions (Zhao Qingsong and Tian Guangxuan, 2025).

IV. Suggestions for the Development Path of New Offshore Trade

Currently, China is actively carrying out pilot projects in free trade pilot zones and has formed a rich variety of offshore trade models, such as the "Beijing: Deep - integration model of cross - border services and offshore trade," the "Shanghai and Qingdao: Offshore goods resale model relying on ports," the "Tianjin: Case - by - case negotiation model to meet enterprise needs," the "Hainan: Offshore trade model of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics," and the "Suzhou and Hangzhou: Industrial park and overseas entrusted processing model." In the future, China can accelerate the development of new offshore trade in the following aspects:

First, consolidate and develop the existing achievements of offshore trade pilot projects and promote them to non - pilot regions in a timely manner. Currently, the pilot regions in free trade pilot zones have actively explored in areas such as preferential tax policies, customs clearance convenience, cross - border data flow, and the integration of onshore and offshore markets, and have made substantial progress, playing a demonstration role as pioneers. As the development of new offshore trade matures, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of offshore trade pilot projects and the dissemination of experience. It is recommended to take advantage of the synergy of city clusters such as the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area, establish a regular experience - exchange mechanism, and carry out cross - regional policy - coordination pilot projects to accurately promote the mature policy systems and management models in areas such as trade facilitation and financial innovation to non - pilot regions. Taking the pilot regions as examples to drive the whole, fully activate the innovation potential of China's 22 free trade pilot zones, continuously expand the market for new offshore trade, and promote the development of China's new offshore trade to a higher level.

Second, build a national big - data verification platform and establish an information - sharing and verification mechanism for offshore trade. Currently, the Shanghai Free Trade Pilot Zone and the Qingdao Area of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone have built new offshore trade comprehensive service platforms, which effectively support the authenticity verification of offshore trade by accessing customs declaration information, container port and terminal information, and air cargo information from overseas countries. As new offshore trade spreads across the country from point to area, it is recommended to build a national big - data verification platform on the basis of platforms such as Shanghai's "Offshore Connect" and Qingdao's "Offshore Reach," improve relevant regulations on information and data sharing, break data silos, and promote cross - regional flow of offshore trade data. This will not only provide data support for the country to coordinate resources, monitor abnormal transactions in national offshore trade such as rapid inflow and outflow of funds and abnormal transfer of cargo rights in real - time, but also provide safe, convenient, and efficient data support for banks to conduct authenticity verification of new offshore trade.

Third, actively promote institutional opening - up and enhance China's voice in formulating international rules for offshore trade. China's cross - border data flow, digital copyright protection, etc. have not yet met the high - standard international requirements of agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans - Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) [4]. At the same time, there are compatibility differences between China's independently developed blockchain underlying protocols, Internet of Things communication standards, and other technical specifications and international mainstream systems, and there is no international mutual - recognition mechanism for key technical standards such as digital identity authentication and data interface protocols (Ding Guoning and Dong Chenghui, 2025), which affects the customs clearance efficiency of offshore goods. Therefore, on the one hand, China should actively align with high - standard international offshore trade rules, establish a compliance mechanism in line with international common rules, strive to create a fair and transparent market ecosystem, strengthen existing headquarters enterprises, attract overseas enterprises to set up headquarters in China, and participate in China's new offshore trade. On the other hand, China should deeply participate in the formulation of international rules for offshore trade, promote all parties to reach more consensus on data security, privacy protection, cross - border law - enforcement cooperation, etc., support the development of offshore trade in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, and steadily promote the internationalization of Chinese rules and standards.

Fourth, innovate and develop offshore trade financial products and improve the guarantee system for new offshore trade. Driven by the wave of the digital economy, it is recommended to closely combine with emerging business forms such as cross - border e - commerce and data trade, and give full play to the enabling role of cutting - edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, the metaverse, and blockchain to develop a variety of new offshore trade products. Not only should it innovate and develop offshore financial services such as cross - border digital RMB payment and international factoring to inject strong impetus into new offshore trade and support new offshore trade projects such as innovation in the real economy, transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, and improvement of the modernization level of the industrial chain and supply chain, but also actively promote a new pilot project of the application scenario of "background verification of new offshore trade business" on the cross - border financial service platform, continuously deepen the application of new scenarios, help banks verify key business information in real - time, improve enterprise cross - border settlement efficiency, and solve the industry pain points of "difficulty in tracing documents and slow bank verification" in offshore trade.

References

1. Ding Guoning, Dong Chenghui. Institutional - type Opening - up Drives New Offshore Trade: Theoretical Logic, Realistic Dilemma, and Key Path. Economist, 2025, Vol. 5, pp. 78 - 87.

2. Pan Huajian, Song Min, Li Wenli, et al. Analysis of New Offshore International Trade Business. China Foreign Exchange, 2024, Vol. 10, pp. 58 - 59.

3. Zhao Qingsong, Tian Guangxuan. Characteristics of the Development of New Offshore Trade and International Experience for Reference. Heilongjiang Finance, 2025, Vol. 4, pp. 82 - 88.

Notes:

[1] Source: Developing New Offshore Trade to Open Up New Space for Foreign Trade with New Business Forms. Securities Daily [EB/OL], 202