Under the challenges of accelerated global value chain restructuring and heightened vulnerability risks, institutional openness has emerged as a critical pathway to enhancing global value chain resilience. This study constructs a dual-dimensional measurement system for global value chain resilience encompassing cooperation stability and position security, and empirically examines the impact of institutional openness on global value chain resilience based on China’s high-standard free trade area network practices. The fi ndings reveal that institutional openness signifi cantly enhances global value chain resilience between China and its partner countries, with particularly pronounced effects on strengthening position security. This impact exhibits notable “double-edged sword”characteristics: while empowering value chain resilience through improved business environments, it simultaneously creates certain inhibitory effects through institutional barriers arising from specific provisions embedded in deep integration rules, including competition policies and TRIPS. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the enhancement eff ect on cooperation stability concentrates in medium-high technology industries and partner countries with higher institutional quality, whereas gains in position security are more pronounced in economically developed, technology-intensive cooperative relationships. Therefore, it is essential to precisely embed effi ciency-enhancing provisions such as trade facilitation and investment protection, while carefully designing potentially restrictive clauses like competition policies. This research provides empirical evidence and policy insights for deepening institutional openness strategies and precisely optimizing regional value chain resilience.