China will relax restrictions on foreign companies investing in its free trade zones after three year since China launched the pilot program. The program has been criticized for not being able to largely reduce the trade and investment barriers for international inevstors. What are the major changes this time?

China will give foreign companies easier access to its free trade zones, to attract more overseas capital. The plan is announced on Tuesday.

China will temporarily replace a lengthy approval process with a registration scheme. That means international investors don't have to wait for years to get the nod to set up bases in China's free trade zones.

China's Citic bank says the timing is critical. The bank says more overseas investments to China will help ease the pressure of yuan's depreciation and capital outflows since the adjusted measures will encourage more foreign investment in China.

"If Chinese companies want to go global, they need to have good experience in overseas markets. The new measure allows us to cooperation with more than 40 overseas financial institutions to expand our knowledge," said Xiang Zhen, Pudong branch manager of ICBC.

For the most internationalized free trade zone, Shanghai free trade zone, a new plan is underway to build a platform for Chinese banks to find overseas banking partners.

"We will encourage local banks to develop more financial products that have higher overseas market exposure, and we will divide Chinese banks into different catergories to help them get in touch with the best overseas partners," said Shen Naien, financial services director of SH FTZ.