BEIJING -- China's Ministry of Commerce on Monday pledged to actively expand the integrated pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce to cultivate new competitive edges in foreign trade.

Some cities have submitted applications to the State Council for the establishment of new pilot zones and the MOC will join relevant departments in carrying out related work, Ren Hongbin, assistant minister of commerce, told a press conference.

The MOC also promised to formulate guidelines for the protection of cross-border e-commerce intellectual property rights, optimize the list of cross-border e-commerce retail imports, and facilitate the return and exchange management of cross-border e-commerce import and export.

China's cross-border e-commerce has been expanding much faster than overall foreign trade, and its share in overall foreign trade has gone up significantly.

Since 2015, China's State Council has established 105 cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in five batches. The new business model has become a vibrant force driving China's foreign trade growth.

China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.69 trillion yuan (about $260.9 billion) in 2020, up 31.1 percent year on year. Over the past five years, China's cross-border e-commerce has grown by nearly 10 times, according to Ren.

To further spur the growth of foreign trade, China's State Council released guidelines earlier this month on accelerating the development of new forms and models of foreign trade to push forward its upgrading and foster new competitive strengths.