Hainan free-trade plan will help Hong Kong, not rival it, top official says

Turning the island province into China’s freest place to trade will complement Hong Kong, according to deputy director of planning agency

The plan will target different industries, and Hainan will build ties with the Greater Bay Area, he says

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Hainan will offer duty-free purchases and more relaxed visa rules under the plans. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 12:55pm, 8 Jun 2020Updated: 11:04pm, 8 Jun 2020

A senior Chinese official said on Monday that China’s southern province of Hainan would complement and not compete with Hong Kong, despite Beijing’s plan to turn the subtropical island into the country’s most attractive free-trade zone.

“The free-trade area of Hainan will have a different status, unlike that of Hong Kong,” Lin Nianxiu, a deputy director of top state planning agency the National Development and Reform Commission, said about the plans in Beijing. “It will focus on industries different from those in Hong Kong.

“It will play more of a complementary role – not a competitive rivalry – to Hong Kong, and [this plan] will not impact on Hong Kong.”

He said the free-trade zone in Hainan would focus on tourism and hi-tech industries.

In addition, Lin said that under the plan Hainan would strengthen ties with the Greater Bay Area – the government’s scheme to create an integrated economic hub around the Pearl River Delta – helping to bolster Hong Kong’s prosperity in the long run. The hub links Hong Kong, Macau and cities in the neighbouring province of Guangdong.

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