China moves forward on its Free Trade initiatives by setting up “pilot zones” in several regions. The announcement came overnight from the office of Long Guoqiang at the General Office of the Development Research Center or DRC.

China (FXI, quote) has already successfully setup Shanghai as a Free Trade Zone or FTZ; in fact the success has sparked interest now in over 20 other local China governments.

Applications for similar FTZs like Shanghai seem to catch the DRC off guard with comments from Mr.

Long that he urges caution to the local government not to rush into the application process.

It important to note that the DRC will be making the final decisions on the which regions receive approval for FTZ and applying does not mean automatic approval.

DRC’s Mr. Long has indicated the Guangdong province is favored as a pilot for the FTZ program since the region already been progressive in reforms and opening up.