China will support Free Trade Zones (FTZs) in further aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules and carrying out higher-level institutional opening-up trials, Tang Wenhong, assistant minister of commerce, said on Friday.

The country will support FTZs in formulating negative lists for data export in more fields and introducing more supportive measures to promote the efficient, convenient and secure cross-border flow of data, Tang told a press conference.

Meanwhile, institutional innovation in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence and technology finance will also be carried out in the zones to create a model for high-quality development, according to the ministry.

To promote a higher level of liberalization and convenience in trade and investment in the zones, China will intensify market access stress tests, and orderly expand opening up in areas such as telecommunications, the internet and healthcare, Tang said.

So far, a total of 379 institutional innovation achievements of FTZs have been replicated nationwide, enabling dividends of reform to be shared and the fruits of opening up to be enjoyed, the ministry said.