Yet, there are some areas where pilot FTZs could still make a big difference. FTZs should strengthen coordination on industrial transfers and promote relocation of industrial capacities from eastern areas to central and western regions, so as to safeguard the comprehensiveness of China's industrial and supply chains, Gu said.

He urged pilot FTZs to better serve national development goals and make more contributions to China's institutional opening-up,while improving their supervision and risk management capability.

"As changes unseen in a century are unfolding in the world, pilot free trade zones, as a test field for deepening reforms and furthering opening-up, must play their role to make more breakthroughs in institutional innovations in the coming years,"Gu said.

In the first half of this year, actual use of foreign direct investment in the 21 pilot FTZs totaled around 130 billion yuan ($17.9 billion), up 8.2 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 10.9 percentage points higher than the national average.

Imports and exports at the 21 pilot FTZs reached 3.7 trillion yuan during the period, up more than 8 percent year-on-year, which was 6.3 percentage points higher than the national average.

At a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in late July, the top leadership called for support for eligible pilot FTZs and FTPs that seek to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and try out reforms and opening-up measures.

In a policy circular published on June 29, the State Council, China's Cabinet, unveiled some pilot measures to deepen reforms and align with high-standard international economic and trade rules in five FTZs - Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian and Beijing- as well as Hainan FTP, as part of efforts to boost institutional opening-up.

These measures include innovative trade facilitation steps in both goods and services, and improvement to business environment.For instance, the circular urged speeding up Customs clearance for certain goods.

It also said that Chinese and foreign financial institutions should receive the same kind of access when the authorities approve the opening of new services in the pilot areas, except for some strategically important sectors.

Individuals and businesses will be allowed to purchase financial services from overseas, and legal investments of foreign investors can be transferred in and out of China freely and without delay.