China’s President Xi Jinping to visit Shanghai on Tuesday, his first trip to nation’s commercial hub since 2021

President Xi Jinping will visit Shanghai on Tuesday in his first visit to China’s commercial hub since 2021, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

He is scheduled to visit the Shanghai Futures Exchange and some technology companies operating in the city, according to several people familiar with the plan, who declined to be named for discussing a confidential itinerary.

Xi is tentatively scheduled to remain in Shanghai for three days, according to the sources, although the final plan is still subject to change, they said.

The visit, the first since Shanghai’s two-month lockdown during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, was previously scheduled as a stopover in the Chinese president’s trip to San Francisco for the annual leaders’ meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, but was ultimately postponed, sources said.

The sun rises behind the skyline of Shanghai on November 3, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

A trip to Shanghai, hot on the heels of the conclusion of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) early this month, underscores Xi’s determination to restore the nation’s economic growth pace. With a population of more than 25 million residents contributing nearly 4 per cent of China’s economic output, Shanghai is home to some of the largest foreign investors in China, including Tesla, General Motors and Walt Disney.

The visit also coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the creation of the Shanghai free-trade zone (FTZ), a testing ground for China’s economic reforms.

Xi is expected to encourage city officials to conduct more market liberalisation to spur cross-border trade and capital flows via the mainland’s gateway city amid mounting worries about China’s decoupling from the West.

“Shanghai’s role as an economic locomotive will be further highlighted following the top leader’s visit,” said Ding Haifeng, a consultant at Shanghai financial advisory firm Integrity. “Local government officials and corporate executives will have greater freedom in bolstering business activities in the country’s commercial and financial hub.”

In November 2018, Xi announced during the first CIIE that a 120-square-kilometre area in the coastal Lingang New City would be given FTZ status to attract global investors.

Tesla began delivering its Shanghai-made vehicles from its Lingang-based Gigafactory 3, the company’s largest production hub worldwide, in January 2020.

The Yangshan deep water port, the world’s largest terminal for container carriers, is linked to the Lingang FTZ by the 32km Donghai Bridge. It handled 24 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) last year.

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