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SHANGHAI - Following a partial set of details released last Friday, expectations had been running high that the new Shanghai Free Trade Zone would be launched as a breeding ground for investment and financial sector reforms. However, reaction so farh as been cool, especially given the absence of senior officials at the opening ceremony and the lack of details on financial sector reforms (which are now expected over the next one-to-three years), according to BBVA Bank.

HONG KONG - China’s State Council today approved the policy package of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in a move which ANZ Bank says indicates that China’s financial sector reforms and capital account convertibility will accelerate. The policy document encourages RMB convertibility, interest rate liberalisation, and further cross-border usage, while companies located in the FTZ are encouraged to take advantage of both onshore and offshore markets.

HONG KONG - Taiwan will post the second-highest economic growth rate in Asia behind Singapore over the next two years because of a rebound in exports, according to CLSA, which is tipping 5.7% growth in 2014 and 4.2% in 2015 (with inflation at 2% and 1.6% respectively over those two years).

HONG KONG – The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI has come in at 51.2 (50.1 in August), a six-month high, and the Flash China Manufacturing Output Index at 51.1 (50.9 in August), a five-month high. The survey showed that both new orders and new export orders increased at a faster rate, as did both input and output prices.

TAIPEI – Taiwan appears to have has a breakthrough in its long campaign for official representation at meetings of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), with Shen Chi, Director-General of Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration, invited to lead a delegation to ICAO’s 38th assembly in Montreal starting on September 24. Taiwan has not been invited to an ICAO meeting since its lost its seat to the United Nations 42 years ago.

LONDON – In an update of its Global Forecast, the Economist Intelligence Unit has again lowered its 2013 GDP forecast for India, from 5.5% to 5.0%. It is maintaining its 2013 GDP forecast for China at 7.5%, but says this will slip to 7.3% in 2014 and eventually to 6.3% in 2017 as China’s economy continues to mature.

BEIJING – China’s State Council has released its toughest action plan yet to reduce pollution, requiring that the concentration of breathable suspended particles with a diameter of 10 microns or less must fall by at least 10% compared to 2012 in 338 specified cities by 2017. Stricter objectives have been set for areas including Beijing, which must reduce the concentration of PM 2.5, smaller more dangerous particles, by about 25% by 2017, based on 2012 levels.