Top Pudong official named chief of expanded Shanghai free-trade zone

Shanghai has appointed Shen Xiaoming, Pudong district's top official, as chief of the mainland's first free-trade zone - reflecting the city's ambitions to enlarge the Hong Kong-style market place.

Shen, 52, the Communist Party secretary of Pudong - who will also stay in that role - will become one of two directors overseeing the zone's administration committee, the district government said yesterday.

Ai Baojun , a vice-mayor of Shanghai, will remain as the other director.

The change in personnel precedes the forthcoming expansion of the Shanghai free-trade zone (FTZ) from an initial area of 28.78 sq km to more than 120 sq km, to cover the Lujiazui finance trade zone, dubbed "China's Wall Street".

The State Council approved expanding the zone's size last year, despite growing suspicions about the development of the "mini Hong Kong" territory.

"It was inevitable Shanghai's FTZ would expand over the whole Pudong area," said Zhang Jun, a professor of economics at Fudan University. "All eyes will now be on financial reform in the zone as foreign investors await liberalisation allowing capital to flow freely across the border."