China’s Hainan free-trade port plan draws approval, and scepticism, as questions linger over implementation
- Chinese businesses are heading to Hainan after Beijing last month unveiled plans to turn the island into a ‘free-trade port’
- But some investors and locals are taking a wait-and-see approach, wary that government promises may not translate into real rewards
This is the first story in a three-part series examining China’s plan to transform Hainan into an internationally influential ‘free-trade port’, as Beijing faces what it perceives to be an increasingly hostile international environment. You can read the second part in the series here.
Political banners hanging from walls and fences across China’s Hainan province are a reminder that President Xi Jinping is going all out to turn the tropical island into the world’s largest free-trade port.
Barely a month after Beijing unveiled sweeping plans to turn the island of 9.3 million people into an internationally influential commercial hub, work is ramping up to transform farmland into 11 pilot industrial estates for the first stage of development.
These enclaves will be the first to allow duty free imports and lower taxes to attract investors, with the incentives expanded to the entire island by 2025.
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Transforming Hainan into a free-trade port has been “planned and arranged” by Xi himself, as part of a strategy to maintain global trade and service flows when the United States is threatening to decouple from China and Hong Kong’s role as international finance centre is under threat following the implementation of a controversial national security law.